Cebu pork supply steady despite ASF

CEBU CITY – The supply of pork and pork-related products in Cebu City’s markets is stable despite the presence of the African swine fever (ASF) virus in at least a dozen localities in the province.

Cebu City Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr., chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, said the local government has noted a steady supply of pigs for slaughter coming from large-scale farms in the San Fernando, Pinamungajan, and Dumanjug towns.

Alcover said prices of pork are also stable due to the steady supply of meat. But lechon or roasted pork traders, however, have been complaining as the backyard-raised breeds of pigs for roasting have become scarce, he said, adding, most of the supply comes from Negros Island affected by border restrictions due to the ASF which is deadly to hogs.

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) said ASF is now present in the cities of Cebu, Bogo, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu, and Talisay as well as the towns of Liloan, Sibonga, Tuburan, Minglanilla, San Fernando, and Cordova. The ASF was first detected in a slaughterhouse in Carcar City after testing hogs which came from Negros.

The BAI culled over a hundred pigs in Carcar City but Governor Gwendolyn Garcia ordered to stop the destruction of live hogs within a 500-meter radius, citing its effect on hog raisers’ livelihood.

Garcia eventually sued officials of the BAI and the Department of Agriculture over the culling policy. In a seven-page complaint filed at the Office of the Ombudsman - Visayas, Garcia said the five officials – BAI Director, Dr. Paul Limson; BAI deputy program coordinator, Dr. Samuel Joseph Castro; BAI coordinator on ASF, Dr. Joshua Cruz; BAI regional veterinary quarantine station head, Dr. Miriam Lopez Vito; and DA 7 (Central Visayas) ASF coordinator, Dr. Daniel Ventura allegedly violated provisions of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, the Local Government Code of 1991, and the New Civil Code.

The case stemmed from the officials’ alleged persistent “statement regarding ASF outbreak in the province of Cebu” and imposing zone mapping and culling protocols within a 500-meter radius without consulting and coordinating with the provincial government. “The indiscriminate culling of the pigs is in violation of the right to due process of the hog owners,” Garcia said, adding that “they were also not justly compensated prior to taking of their property.”

Garcia said the officials’ failure to exercise due course in performing their duties has greatly affected the P11 billion hog industry of the province. (John Rey Saavedra)