To protect hog industry, city seeks total ban on pork from Mindanao

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

The Iloilo City government is eyeing a total ban on pork and pork products from Mindanao in a bid to protect the metro’s hog industry from the African Swine Fever (ASF).

Iloilo City Veterinarian Dr. Tomas Forteza has proposed to prohibit the entry of pork products from Mindanao following the recorded ASF cases.

Forteza reiterated that the Department of Agriculture (DA) recently identified several towns in Mindanao, particularly the Davao Region and Soccsksargen as ASF-positive areas.

“The rapid spread of ASF in Mindanao, from one town to another, is unprecedented and the possibility of ASF virus spreading to the whole island of Mindanao is imminent,” he said in his letter addressed to Mayor Jerry Treñas on Monday.

He recommended amendments to Executive Order No. 027-2020 (the expanded ban on pork and pork products from Luzon) recently issued by the mayor to include the entire Mindanao area.

Recently, Treñas issued an EO expanding the coverage of the ban on live pigs, hog carcasses, pork, and pork by-products originating and processed in Region 11.

“We included Davao Occidental. This is to make sure that our piggery and hog industry won’t be affected,” he said.

The ban also covered pork and pork products from countries with positive ASF cases.

In October 2019, the mayor initially imposed a three-month ban on Luzon pork and pork by-products.

The ban was later extended to June 2020 following reports that there are still ASF cases in Luzon.

In his letter, Forteza also proposed to intensity the stringent measures in monitoring pork and products from banned areas to prevent the entry of ASF in the city.

“There should be more stringent measures in monitoring and inspections of banned pork, pork products, and by-products from banned areas, including those from Mindanao in all of the city’s entry points including all private and public markets,” he said.

The City Veterinarian also sought help from the barangay officials to monitor the swine industry of the city’s 180 barangays.

“Monitoring of the swine industry in the 180 barangays should also be continued and the linkage and coordination with the barangay officials should be strengthened,” he added.

Forteza also called for the hiring of additional job hires to help implement precautionary measures against ASF.

Recently, Task Force ASF was created by the city government to help monitor pork and pork products retailers as well as entry points in the city.

During his visit to Iloilo on Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Anthony Gerard “Jonji” Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) also supported the measures done by Western Visayas to ban pork in the region.

“If that is also what is being done in Region 6, we are very supportive of it. I think that is the right thing to do for now because I have learned that backyard hog-raising in Panay is worth P10 billion. We want to protect our hog industry,” he said.