The Manila Times

Bacolod records 1st ASF case

BY EUGENE Y. ADIONG

BACOLOD CITY: Bacolod City, the capital city of Negros Occidental, can no longer claim to be free of African swine fever (ASF).

On Friday, blood samples from two pigs in a backyard piggery in Barangay Taculing tested positive for ASF. This is the first case of ASF in the city and the province since the outbreak was first reported in the Visayas in 2019.

Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez said the hogs came from Bago City, 30 kilometers south of Bacolod.

The mayor said he had already ordered the culling of pigs within the 500-meter radius of the place where the ASF had been detected.

“There appear to be no other infected pigs in the area,” he said, adding that the deaths of the two ASF-positive hogs were isolated cases.

“It is still safe to eat pork in Bacolod City. It is not a health hazard [to humans] but a threat to the industry.”

Although the ASF virus is highly contagious and even fatal to pigs, it is not considered harmful to humans.

“The clear and present danger is the collapse of the industry if we do not do anything,” Benitez said.

The P6-billion hog industry in Negros Occidental is considered one of the biggest in the country.

Benitez said the city would intensify its testing and monitoring.

Bago City is part of the province’s fourth district, which has the most number of swine deaths mainly due to hog cholera in the past weeks.

The two pigs that died in Barangay Taculing were buried 6 feet deep.

Benitez said the city government would give compensation to pig farms affected by the ASF in Bacolod City.

On Friday afternoon, Regional Executive Director Jose Albert Barrogo, officer in charge of the Department of Agriculture-Western Visayas (DA-6), also confirmed the ASF cases in the city.

“What was announced by Mayor Albee was based on the laboratory test we conducted — the result was positive. But the result will still be confirmed by the Bureau of Animal Industry in Manila. The confirmation will still be done on Monday,” he said.

Barrogo said he advised Benitez to activate the local task force and develop a containment plan to prevent the spread of the disease. He also advised the creation of a recovery plan for the affected hog raisers.

Before the detection of the ASF virus in Bacolod, Negros Occidental was considered a dark green zone by the Department of Agriculture for being ASF-free.

Also on Friday afternoon, Benitez joined Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson in a joint animal biosecurity meeting of the province’s Incident Management Team (IMT) at the Command Center in Bacolod City.

They said they would come up with an order for joint operations by Monday.

Bacolod is a highly urbanized city that does not fall under the jurisdiction of the governor.

Last Monday, Negros Occidental banned the entry of all live pigs and pork products from neighboring Negros Oriental, which reported its first swine deaths due to ASF last week.

Meanwhile, Lacson said the current spate of hog cholera deaths was “threatening the province’s hog industry.”

Lacson cited data showing that 5.5 percent of the hog population in Negros Occidental has been affected by swine diseases, mostly hog cholera.

As of Friday, there were no laboratory results pointing to ASF-positive cases in Negros Occidental, he said.

“Although there is no official confirmation of ASF in the province, we are treating it as if it’s ASF. We will be testing, we will be containing and if the pig is sick, we will bury. In short, we will not have a mass culling of these pigs. For the healthy ones, we will allow the owners to sell them or have lechon,” Lacson said.

Dr. Placeda Lemana, provincial agriculturist, said there were 6,379 pig deaths in Negros Occidental from various diseases.

Data showed that the average pig deaths in Negros Occidental per day is 400.

The deaths in the second, third, fourth and fifth districts comprise 5.88 percent of Negros Occidental’s hog population.

Only the first and sixth districts of Negros Occidental have had no reports of disease-related hog deaths.

In Negros Oriental, Sibulan Mayor Jose Abiera issued an order on Thursday citing “the urgent need for the culling of pigs” in at least three areas where swine deaths were reported and laboratory samples had shown ASF-positive results.

These areas were identified as Purok Apitong in Barangay Tubtubon, the western portion of Barangay Boloc-Boloc and the southern section of Barangay Magatas.

The report comes after Dauin town reported the first case of ASF in Negros Oriental in Barangay Maayong Tubig last weekend.

Dr. Belinda Villahermosa, provincial veterinary officer, said culling within a 500-meter radius of the ASF-affected areas will begin as soon as excavation for the burial site has been done.

Villahermosa said at least 300 pig heads in Dauin have already been culled, while in Sibulan town, some 50 to 60 pigs are being profiled and depopulation will begin immediately.

Regions

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2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281694029154792

The Manila Times