Cebu Governor Garcia bans entry of hogs, pork products from Bohol

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has ordered a 60-day ban on the entry of live hogs, sow and pork-related products from the province of Bohol as part of efforts to curtail the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF).

"With the confirmed cases of ASF in Bohol, there is an urgent need to temporarily ban entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, and pork-related products from the province of Bohol to protect the hog industry of Cebu," Garcia said in Executive Order No. 21.

Cebu has a hog industry worth P11 billion.

In March, Bohol imposed a ban on live hogs and pork products from Cebu after ASF was detected in Carcar City.

Bohol has been ASF-free since 2019 until the detection of infected hogs in Barangay San Vicente in Pilar town.

Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, the Bohol province veterinarian, confirmed that the dead pigs found in some backyard farms in Purok 6 in Barangay San Vicente tested positive for ASF.

"The samples we submitted particularly within the 100-meter radius tested positive of the ASF virus," she said on Tuesday during the special edition of The Capitol Reports, a weekly-program of the provincial government of Bohol.

She said that out of 19 blood samples taken from the pigs, 11 tested positive.  However, samples taken from pigs within the 5-km radius and outside tested negative of the virus.

There were 87 pigs killed and died in Purok 6 in Barangay San Vicente, at least 7 kilometers from the town proper.

During the outbreak of the viral infection, the provincial veterinary office conducted containment measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Gov. Aris Aumentado said the ASF has already been contained. 

He issued a ban through an executive order that was issued last July 28  on the entry and exit of hogs, including fresh and frozen pork products, and suspending swine-related activities following the detection of the virus in the town.

He also urged farmers to immediately report any deaths of their hogs to their local officials.

Pilar Mayor Wilson Pajo said check points were held in the village including neighboring villages of San Carlos, Catagdaan and Inaghuban where residents and visitors have to step on the footbath.

Julieta Curiba, 59, had her 22 pigs deliberately killed and buried last July 28 to prevent the spread of the virus.

Other pigs raised by at least nine families in Purok 6 in Barangay Vicente in Pilar town, were also hit.

Curiba said her loses reached almost P200,000. Only the three sows and boar were insured.

Aumentado said earlier that the provincial government of Bohol will provide financial assistance of P5,000 per anay (sows) /botakal (boar), P3,000 per adult pig, and P1,000 per baktin (litters) to the affected hog raisers and caretakers.

Bohol province is one of the pork producers in the country with a pork industry valued at P6 billion.

According to the World Organization for Animal Health, ASF  is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, whose mortality rate can reach 100 percent.

It added that it is not a danger to human health, but it has devastating effects on pig populations and the farming economy. There is currently no effective vaccine against ASF.

A quarter of the world's domestic pigs have died as a virus rampages across Eurasia. — BAP, GMA Integrated News