Lawyer August Lizer Malate, the executive secretary of Mayor Jonas Cortes and head of the city’s Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO), said Thursday, March 24, 2023, the move is to show support to Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia’s order lifting all border controls in the province in relation to the movement of pigs and pork.
Instead of killing hogs with ASF disease, the Cebu Provincial Government focuses on mitigating, monitoring, observing, and isolating them.
Malate, however, said they would still check the permits and clearances of the pigs being transported.
Last March 14, the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO) said they laid out a plan to implement strict border control in 12 areas in Cebu in case the city government would order them to do so.
Among the places considered are Tawason, Panagdait, Innodata, Banilad, Cabancalan, Cansaga, Jagobiao, Mactan-Mandaue Bridge, Marcelo Fernand Bridge, Lapu-Lapu City, and Talamban.
Malate said they would also amend previous Executive Order (EO) 13 or the temporary banning of pork and pork products from the red (infected zones) and pink (buffer zone) issued by Mayor Jonas Cortes to adapt to the new policy mandated by the Cebu Province.
Malate said they would release a new EO right after the City Veterinarian Office presented them with their recommendations.
He added that Cortes expressed support for Governor Garcia’s One Cebu policy in battling the ASF just like what he had done in the past against the Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.
At the same time, the city will also look into adopting the policies of the national government in dealing with the ASF but will prioritize the situation on the ground.
“We should look into the policy, kay kita man sad ana naa sa ground, kita may nakasabot, unsay maayo sa mga testing, sa mga assumption, scientific outputs,” said Malate.
(We should look into the policy because we are the ones on the ground, we know what is good about testing, assumption, and scientific outputs).
Cash Assistance
City Councilor Oscar Del Castillo Jr., the chair of the Committee on Market and Abattoir, said they plan to create an ordinance to give cash allowances to the city’s hog farmers should the ASF infect their pigs.
Del Castillo said they will validate how many hog farmers would qualify for the cash assistance.
After learning recently that the pigs tested for ASF came from a slaughterhouse in Carcar City and not from hog or backyard farms, Garcia questioned whether the disease affecting the pigs is actually the Common Swine Fever (CSF) hog cholera and not ASF.
As a result, Garcia ordered to stop killing pigs in the infected areas in Carcar City, where the ASF was first detected.
She also asked the Department of Agriculture Central Visayas (DA 7) to stop the indiscriminate mass testing of pigs using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing kits in Cebu.
On Wednesday, March 22, the governor also lifted the DA 7’s implementation of the national zoning plan for ASF mitigation.
For their part, DA 7 Regional Director Angel Enriquez, who recently assumed office, supported Garcia’s call to reconsider and reevaluate the national government’s ASF protocols. (HIC, TPT)
