Garcia continues to oppose culling of pigs

CEBU– Governor Gwendolyn Garcia stood firm against the slaughter of pigs suspected of carrying the African swine fever (ASF) virus which is deadly to hogs.

Garcia reiterated her call on the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to forgo the culling of pigs citing the impact of this on the local supply of pork. She insisted that there is no ASF outbreak in the province, but only in six out of 53 localities here.

The BAI announced on March 20 that it has detected ASF in Cebu City and the towns of Tuburan, Sibonga, Liloan and Bogo City, in addition to Carcar City where the deadly virus afflicting pigs was first discovered on March 1.

Garcia said the provincial government will exert all efforts to save the P11-billion local hog industry and protect the consumers from the effect of a shortage of pork if culling is pursued even in pigs that have not displayed clinical signs of the virus. "So you continue to kill these pigs, you continue to reduce our local supply, and, in effect, kill our local hog industry in exchange for imported meat,” she said.

The governor said she suspected a classical swine fever inflicted on the pigs in Cebu, adding that although this disease is endemic in Asia, it can be prevented through the anti-hog cholera vaccine. She also ordered mayors to form the so-called “Barangay Swine Fever Task Force” as a way to combat the spread of the ASF in their areas.

Lawyer Donato Villar Jr., the capitol’s legal officer, said they went to Carcar City to gather sworn statements from backyard hog raisers who are opposed to the culling policy. He said many of the piggeries in the province have become a source of livelihood for the Cebuanos, citing a case in Carcar City where a former overseas Filipino worker who invested his hard-earned money to buy 10 sows and later progressed to about 100 heads, but all lost to culling.

Dr. Jessica Maribojoc, head of Cebu City’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fishery Office, said the local government managed to control the further spread of the ASF after culling pigs infected with the virus. “We were able to mobilize our team to act on the reported ASF infection based on the blood collection result,” Maribojoc told the Philippine News Agency.

The blood sampling, she said, was conducted in 11 villages declared as “hot spots” following the occurrence of symptoms and deaths. ASF was discovered in a few pigs in a backyard farm in just one of the 11 areas declared as hot spots, thus culling was performed to prevent the further spread of the virus.

“We have to justify to BAI based on the definition of infected areas under Administrative Circular 2 that an area is a red zone if there is an ASF outbreak and the virus has spread in other villages within 15 days,” Maribojoc said, adding, border restrictions against undocumented hogs and pork meat will continue in Cebu City. (John Rey Saavedra)