Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 11) — The Zamboanga Peninsula is joining the list of regions closing off their areas to pork amid fears about the spread of African Swine Fever in Mindanao, local authorities said.
The region’s Task Force on Animal Disease said Tuesday it will be enforcing a 60-day total ban on the entry of pork and pork products to manage, contain and control the spread of ASF.
Harly Literano, Quarantine Officer of the Bureau of Animal Industry, said the total ban will be implemented once a resolution is released by the regional office of the Department of Agriculture. They are still waiting for a copy of the resolution as discussed in their meeting on Monday, she added.
However, Literano said checkpoints on regional boundaries have been set up already with personnel from DA, the Bureau of Animal Industry Veterinary Quarantine Services and local government staff.
The checkpoints were placed in Tukuran, Aurora and Tambulig in Zamboanga del Sur, Rizal in Zamboanga del Norte and all seaports and airports in the region.
Literano said there will be no confiscation of hogs and its meat products since the region does not have a disposal area.
“The items will only be returned back to its origin,” she explained in a phone interview.
It was in Davao Occidental where ASF was first reported to have reached Mindanao. The whole province has been placed under a state of calamity after 10,000 hogs were affected by the disease. This triggered other provinces even in Visayas to enforce bans on the entry of live pigs and pork-based products. Iloilo, Cebu, Misamis Oriental, Davao City, Mati City in Davao Oriental and Southern Leyte, among others have imposed bans on pork from affected areas.
The first cases of ASF in the country were found in Luzon, particularly in Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Rizal and Cavite, before it entered Mindanao.
Although ASF does not pose health risks to humans, people can still carry the virus and infect animals. The virus quickly spreads in an affected hog, which could lead to death after three to five days, threatening food supply.
Stringer Leah Agonoy contributed to this report.
