Camotes mayors to Bureau of Animal Industry: Spare the island from ‘oppressive’ ASF policy

file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The four mayors of Camotes Group of Islands (CGI) have “strongly urged” the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) to spare this northern Cebu islands from the policy on the African Swine Fever (ASF) color coding and other restrictions.

The four local chief executives made their appeal through the League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP)-Cebu chapter and the Provincial Government Council.

They also appealed to the Provincial Government of Leyte and Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez to open up their borders and the market for hog livestock and products from the island.

This was after Ormoc City Mayor Torres issued Executive Order No. 2023-0031 or “An Order Prohibiting the Entry of Live Pigs, Pork, and Pork-Related Products and By-Products, Whether Fresh, Frozen, Processed or Cooked, Including But Not Limited to Frozen Boar Semen from Areas with Reported African Swine Fever (ASF) Cases into the City of Ormoc and Regulating the Entry of the Same from Areas Without ASF Case,” on March 24, 2023.

Contributed photo

Calling the ASF color coding “oppressive and anti-poor,” the mayors of the CGI said the BAI policy on ASF had brought a negative impact in the hog industry of Camotes Islands, which had been negative of ASF cases ever since.

“CGI and our struggling hog growers have no other resort but to humbly appeal to the Department of Agriculture, which oversees BAI, and our neighboring LGUs of Leyte and Ormoc City in particular, to please look at the plight of our hog raisers with understanding and humanitarian consideration, as they have been unfairly and undeservingly punished with the denial of equitable trading and commercial opportunities…” read a portion of the mayors’ manifesto.

The manifesto was signed by Pilar Mayor Manuel Santiago, Poro Mayor Edgar Rama, San Francisco Mayor Alfredo Arquillano, and Tudela Mayor Greman Solante.

In a press conference on Thursday, June 8, 2023, which was attended by Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and four mayors of Camotes Group of Islands, Poro Mayor Edgar Rama said that the recent executive order of the City of Ormoc had a significant adverse effect on their hog industry.

“Nindot og didto ta sa Ormoc kay ang Ormoc man gud mudawat og volume, unya kung magsalig lang ta sa local nga market, aw swerte lang ta kung kada adlaw naay piyesta kay mahalin jud ang atong baboy,” he said.

(It is better there in Ormoc because there in Ormoc they buy in volume and if we depend on the local market, we will be lucky if everyday there is a fiesta because our pigs will be sold.)

“Ang pait pod ani, kay gawas mahal ang feeds, kung madugay ang baboy nga dili mahalin, mumenos ang presyo,” he added.

(What is also bad about this is that the feeds are expensive and if the pig will not be sold for a while, then its price will go down.)

 Sun Shimura, Daanbantayan mayor and LMP-Cebu president, said the LMP-Cebu would file a resolution to also reach out to other mayors for the same course of action.

The mayors of Camotes also got the support of Garcia, who was skeptical of the testing conducted by the BAI.

“Thousands upon thousands of pigs were slaughtered in areas which the BAI had declared ASF infected. Of course, because we were supposed to protect the hog industry and ASF is supposed to be that infectious… so the policy that we swallowed without question was we should kill these pigs because they might die of ASF in other words, unahan na lang natin at baka mamatay, patayin na lang natin (we will just kill them first before they will probably die. We will just have to kill them.),” she said.

To recall, last March 1, 2023, BAI released positive results confirming the blood samples of pigs taken from pigs from the slaughterhouse in Carcar City.

On March 21, 2023, Garcia issued her Executive Order 10-2023, establishing biosecurity measures against ASF and other diseases. The Province also implemented its own ASF measures.

The EO reiterated the province’s opposition to culling as a preventive measure against ASF and does away with border controls in regulating the transportation of hogs, pork products, and byproducts.

READ: Cebu province implements own anti-ASF measures

Meanwhile, Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Mary Rose Vingcoy announced that right now, there are no reported massive deaths in the whole of Cebu Province.

“Ang atong mga cases nga katong ilang gicoloran sa una, walay mga cases na karon, and, in fact, katong mapping gani mismo, it was erroneous from the very start,” she said.

(Our cases, where they colored at first, there are no cases now, and, in fact, the mapping, it was erroneous from the very start.)

Cebu Province currently has a total swine population of 616,930 from 69,654 swine raisers, and San Francisco in Camotes is among the top backyard swine producers.

READ MORE:

Gwen: Stop testing pigs for ASF

Lechon, chicharon sales in Carcar affected due to ASF scare

Gov’t may subsidize ASF vaccine

/dbs