PROTECTIVE BUBBLE. Healthy young pigs are seen in their pen in this undated photo. The Municipal Agriculture Office of Odiongan, Romblon said on Friday (Nov. 10, 2023) no new African swine fever cases are reported in recent weeks but it is premature to lift restrictions. (PNA file photo)
ODIONGAN, Romblon – The Municipal Agriculture Office here reported that the spread of African swine fever (ASF) across the town’s piggeries seems to have been contained even but it is premature to relax on safeguard measures.
In an interview on Friday, municipal agriculturist Rexfort Famisaran said that four meat inspection checkpoints are still positioned on strategic roads leading into town, while there is another checkpoint at the Port of Odiongan.
He clarified that the checkpoints are not only tasked with preventing the entry of live hogs and fresh pork meat, but processed meat as well.
This means that even pork products such as ham and longganisa (native sausage) can be confiscated and destroyed to ensure that Romblon’s center of commerce is shielded from ASF.
Famisaran, however, noted that piggeries in Odiongan are allowed to export their products beyond the town’s borders as long as the animals did not originate from an area that was previously cordoned off following confirmed ASF cases.
“We have created an exclusion zone 500 meters radius from the backyard piggery where ASF was detected. Right now, our priority is to contain the disease there, and prevent the infection from reaching our commercial piggeries. We are really trying to protect the commercial piggeries because the hog population there is significant,” he said in Filipino.
The municipal agriculturist said that the town currently has around 4,000 hogs, and none among them have exhibited ASF symptoms in recent weeks.
He disclosed that since Sunday, at least two hogs from backyard piggeries have fallen ill -- one quickly recovered but the other died.
“Blood samples have been taken, and they were submitted for testing. But from what we observed, it is probably not ASF because other hogs within close proximity to the sick ones appear healthy,” he explained.
Famisaran said representatives from the Bureau of Animal Industry are set to visit the town on Nov. 17 to assess the ASF situation, and their evaluation will help determine whether or not it is time to lift some restrictions.
The entirety of Romblon is still under state of calamity due to multiple cases of ASF in at least five towns. (PNA)
