BY ADRIAN P. NEMES III
The Negros Occidental African Swine Fever Task Force has seized some 32,641 tons of meat products, valued at P5.5 million, from different seaports, checkpoints, and at the Bacolod-Silay Airport since it started operations in January this year.
Provincial Veterinarian, Dr. Renante Decena, said that, of the amount, P43,700 worth of meat products was confiscated last week at the Bacolod-Silay Airport, Bredco Port, and at the Escalante Port.
Decena said the confiscated items were found in hand-carried and checked-in baggage and cargo trucks/containers. He said the meats seized were burned while others were sent back to where they came from.
Decena also said they conducted inspection and monitoring of 57 supermarkets, grocery stores, and online sellers of frozen meat products last week to ensure compliance with the ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental.
The ASF Task Force was also able to inspect 4,214 refrigerated container vans since January.
Negros Occidental has banned the entry of live pigs, pork products, and pork-based items from Davao Region after a positive case of ASF was confirmed in Davao Occidental.
In a memorandum he issued earlier, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson directed all city and municipal mayors to enforce the ban by virtue of Provincial Ordinance No. 2019-024, or the ASF Prevention Ordinance of Negros Occidental, specifically Section 4 thereof and in view of the recent reports of ASF in Davao Occidental.
Lacson, the chairperson of the Provincial ASF Task Force, urged local chief executives to implement preventive measures in their respective areas of jurisdiction and enjoined local government units to coordinate their activities with the task force to ensure a coordinated response and action throughout the province.
Meanwhile, Negros Occidental hog raisers were able to ship 5,924 hogs to different provinces in Luzon and the Visayas since Dec. 1, a PVO report showed yesterday.
The total number of hogs sent to Luzon was 4,982 while 942 were shipped to provinces in the Visayas. The hogs were delivered to the provinces of Cebu, Leyte, Iloilo, Bulacan, Antipolo, Pampanga, Pangasinan, La Union, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija, and in the cities of Manila, Muntinlupa and Caloocan.*
