Police Lieutenant Colonel Franc Rudolf Oriol, Mandaue City Police Office deputy director for operations, assures the Mandaue City government that they are ready to conduct border control operations to prevent entry of African Swine Fever in the city if the city government will ask them to do so. | CDN Digital file photo
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — The Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) is ready anytime they will be asked by the city government to conduct border controls to prevent entry of pork and pork products infected by African Swine Fever into the city.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Franc Rudolf Oriol, MCPO deputy city director for operations and spokesperson, said that their personnel were ready to be augmented.
“Andam na atoang personnel for specific instructions sa city government. (Our personnel are ready for specific instructions from the city government). We are placing ourself ready to assist the LGU on how to implement or mitigate the spread of ASF here in Mandaue City,” said Oriol.
READ: Mandaue intensifies ASF monitoring
Mandaue police: Waiting for request
However, Oriol said that they had yet to receive a request from the city government on when the border controls would possibly be implemented.
The city temporarily banned the entry of pork and pork products from red (infected) zone and pink buffer zone areas of Cebu Province.
Border checkpoints
Earlier, City Veterinarian Dr. Karen Merilles said that they would probably conduct border checkpoints but they would first coordinate with other local government units to know what borders that did not have checkpoints.
Merilles said that they would want to reserve the personnel especially since border controls were already in place in other municipalities.
“Magrely ta on the zoning aron dili nato ma-exhaust tanan. This is costly baya and it should (be) strategize(d). Dili kay nagcheckpoint ang unahan, unya checkpoint na pod,” said Merilles.
(We will rely on the zoning so that we cannot exhaust our personnel. This is costly undertaking and it should be strategized. It should not be that there’s a checkpoint in the area and then a few meters later there is another checkpoint.)
READ: Consolacion tells barangays to put up border controls against ASF
“Ang amoang gibuhat ron is we communicate with other LGUs kung asa sila wala. Dira ta mostand para mascreen nato tanan,” she said.
(What we are doing now is we communicate with other LGUs on where they don’t have (border controls). That is where we will stand so that we can screen all.)
ASF mapping
But Merilles said that once the ASF status would change, the city’s protocols and measures implemented would also change.
READ: Gwen orders temporary stoppage of culling of pigs in ASF-hit Carcar
Based on the Philippine’s ASF mapping released by the Department of Agriculture Central Visayas (DA 7) on March 5, Mandaue was under the green or ASF-free zone.
Only Carcar City was classified as the red zone or infected zone.
Barili, Sibonga, Aloguinsan, San Fernando were the municipalities categorized under the pink zone or buffer zone.
Meanwhile, other localities were under the surveillance zone, protected zone, and free zone.
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