DAVAO CITY — The different local government units in the key cities and provinces of Southern Mindanao are doubly working to contain the spread of the African Swine Fever (ASF) which has been affecting backyard farmers.
On December 2019, the ASF has infected backyard hog raisers in the villages of Davao City, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, and this time, in North Cotabato.
Since then, thousands of hogs have been culled in those areas in an effort to contain the spread of ASF. Meantime, hundreds of piggery workers have lost their jobs, while major areas which earlier got access on meat and its byproduct from southern Mindanao have ceased to accept the goods for fear of contaminating their local farmers.
ASF checkpoints are now highly visible in all borders of southern Mindanao, as the campaign for vigilance and proactive measures are on the hilt.
Davao City veterinarian Dr. Cerelyn Pinili, in an interview with Newsline said, “there is a massive monitoring in the communities and public slaughterhouses to ensure that every carcass is ASF-Free.
Safeguarding meat in the public market involves series of test and monitoring have been conducted in near borders of Davao del Sur, North Cotabato and in Davao del Norte where cases of positive ASF are also reported.
“In Davao market, all meat and its byproduct are safe for consumption,” Pinili emphasized.
Davao del Norte Governor Edwin Jubahib earlier announced that the provincial veterinarian’s office has contained the cases of ASF in Barangay Cagangohan in Panabo City.
“We continue to implement stringent measures to contain the ASF because it will affect our people who are dependent on their hogs for a living. So, I asked everyone to cooperate as we implement measures to contain the ASF, and after three weeks, in the village where there was a positive case, hogs examination showed negative results,” Jubahib said.
On Wednesday, Renante Baclay, chairman of Barangay Malungon in Makilala, North Cotabato in a report published by Philippine News Agency said some meat samples earlier brought to the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in General Santos City, from domestic hogs in his village, tested positive of the ASF disease. The sample was sent to the regional laboratory three weeks ago.
Malungon is a remote village of Makilala town which sits as the last barangay of the municipality in its adjacent village Tacol in Magsaysay, Davao del Sur.
Dr. Eugene Gornes, Kidapawan City Veterinarian, in an interview with Newsline said that in Kidapawan City, ASF cases was identified in Barangay Linangkob “We depopulated 201 sows coming from 21 backyard hog raisers, and we continue to hold dialogue with our famers and vendors, as we solicit their cooperation”.
ASF FREE
Davao City contained the ASF infestation in some of its villages, Pinili said “the last examination that her office has conducted yielded negative result but we are not taking things for granted, we need to regularly monitor the communities”.
For Kidapawan City, Gornes revealed “our last examination result showed that Barangay Linangkob hogs are no longer infected. We are now processing the payment for the culled hogs”.
But Department of Agriculture Regional Director Arlan Mangelen in an interview with Newsline, they are now on a massive education and information campaign for the hog raisers to adopt stricter measures to prevent their pigpens from ASF infection.
In North Cotabato, Mangelen said cases of ASFs were reported in Linangkob, Kidapawan City, in the towns of President Roxas, Arakan and Magpet, “but the Kidapawan case is already contained, Magpet nag-negative na ang isang farm, we are doing our best to contain this, kasi kawawa ang farmers”.
The beginning of contamination
In Davao City, the ASF was reported after the reported cases in Davao Occidental was discovered, reports have it, that most of Davao’s roasted pig or “Lechon houses” are getting their stocks from the bagsakan in Davao Occidental. Immediately thereafter, Davao del Sur reported positive cases in some communities which was followed by the cases if South Cotabato and recently in North Cotabato.
For Kidapawan City, Gornes said, they suspect that some pigpen owners slaughter their hogs in their own yard which could have been an ASF positive sow or from processed meat products entering the city from nearby towns.
Mangelen, however said “Processed products entering region 12 are mostly coming from Davao City because Region 12, does not produce meat products”.
However, South Cotabato piggery owners once claimed, that there are distribution of meat and its byproduct to Visayas and the National Capital region.
Gornes said they suspect that some pigpen owners slaughter their hogs to earn more rather than have their animals checked and examined. “In that case, instead of containing the infection, it spreads because the buyers are their neighbors or those near their villages,” he added.
Gornes observation was affirmed by Baclay who said, “There is a possibility that residents here brought processed meat from other infected villages and gave the leftovers to their hogs”.
The ASF, according to Dr. Jose Lorenzo Gomoz, an expert on ASF in the Asia and the Pacific, is a disease that needs to be properly responded and contained by instituting the quarantine protocols long established and proven.
Gomos said, “It takes community cooperation and strong government policy to address the problem”.-Editha Z. Caduaya/Newsline.ph
