ASF AFFECTED. A photo taken from a backyard piggery affected by the African swine fever (ASF) in the town of Hamtic on June 16, 2023. Antique Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao in an interview Thursday (June 22, 2023) urges the local government unit of Hamtic to conduct depopulation and culling of swine due to their confirmed cases of ASF. (PNA photo courtesy of Gali Magbanua)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Antique provincial government has allocated PHP10 million in funds to assist backyard raisers in the town of Hamtic, who have been affected by African swine fever (ASF).
The funds that can be used for the repopulation and rehabilitation of their hog industry will be released once the municipality is placed under a state of calamity, Governor Rhodora J. Cadiao said in an interview Thursday.
Cadiao said her office has been informed of the results of serum samples taken from the municipality of Hamtic on June 21, showing that four of their five specimens were positive for ASF as per a laboratory test conducted by the Department of Agriculture -Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (DA-RADDL) in Iloilo City.
“I am going to have a meeting with Hamtic Mayor Ronald Julius Pacificador today (Thursday) for they already have to declare a state of calamity with the ASF confirmation,” Cadiao said.
Once a state of calamity is declared, Hamtic could release assistance to hog raisers considering that many of them are considered backyard raisers, she added.
“There are many hog raisers in the coastal area of Hamtic considered backyard raisers only,” Cadiao said.
The governor said that DA OIC-Regional Executive Director Jose Albert Barrogo, together with the ASF confirmation result, recommended that Hamtic implement immediate quarantine and disease control measures within the affected premises.
“Contact tracing has also to be carried out now,” Cadiao said.
She said contact tracing is necessary for LGUs that are adjacent to Hamtic to implement quarantine within a distance of one kilometer from the affected areas.
“I have already talked to San Jose de Buenavista and Sibalom mayors to implement quarantine,” Cadiao said.
The governor emphasized that LGUs should help prevent the spread of ASF in their municipalities while hog raisers from the town of Hamtic, meanwhile, refrain from breeding hogs. (PNA)
