The City’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) will strengthen its 11 animal checkpoint areas and provide more attention in its southern borders.
DVMF head Dr. Jessica Maribojoc said in a press conference Wednesday, March 8, 2023, that strict border controls will be implemented on N. Bacalso Ave. in Barangay Bulacao, Laray, Inayawan, and at the South Road Properties.
Maribojoc had previously announced that all live pigs, pork products and byproducts from Carcar City will be banned from entering Cebu City due to the detection of ASF in the area.
Based on the illustration provided by the DVMF, Carcar City is considered an infected zone, while the towns of Barili, Aloguinsan, Sibonga and San Fernando are tagged as a buffer zone.
The towns of Dumanjug, Argao and Pinamungajan, and Naga City are surveillance zones.
The towns of Minglanilla, Ronda, Alcantara, Moalboal, Badian and Dalaguete, and Toledo City, which borders Cebu City in the west, are protected zones.
Maribojoc said border controls in Cebu City have been in place since Jan. 22, and in just three weeks’ time, the DVMF has inspected around 600 health certificates.
Maribojoc revealed that there have been live pigs and pork products denied entry to Cebu City due to a lack of proper certifications and tampering of documents.
Maribojoc also disclosed that some barangays in Cebu City are considered hotspots for ASF and are under monitoring.
A barangay will be considered a hotspot if there are reports of pig mortalities, she said.
But based on their monitoring and inspection, the pigs that died did not test positive for the virus.
Maribojoc said the DVMF is equipped with test kits that can immediately detect the ASF virus.
Despite the ban on live pigs and pork products from Carcar City, Maribojoc said there is enough supply of pigs and pork in Cebu City.
The city can sustain pigs and pork products for one month even if it will not source from other localities and will rely only on Cebu City-based breeders and farmers, she added.
But Maribojoc said this is far-fetched since there are still a lot of areas in Cebu that are ASF-free.
She said the neighboring province of Bohol can also be a source of pigs and pork products.
Only three, not 11
Also on Wednesday, Carcar City Mayor Mario Patrick Barcenas said only pigs from three of the city’s 15 barangays had blood samples taken for laboratory testing.
“Duna diay ta’y sayop nga statement kay akong gitan-aw gyud og klaro didto kay adtong pag pirmero gyud 11 man ka barangay ang atong nakuan. Ang gi declare ra gyud diay nga apektado gyud nga naay kuan kani ra gyud tulo ka mga barangays,” Barcenas said.
(We had an incorrect statement, because it was first announced that there were 11 barangays. But it turns out that those declared to have been affected are only three barangays.)
On Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture in Central Visayas had said that local pigs in the city abattoir that had tested positive for ASF had been traced to 11 of Carcar’s 15 barangays. (IRT, WITH ANV / TPT)