Bacolod City officials asked to ban pork
Credit to Author: Eugene Y. Adiong| Date: Thu, 05 Dec 2019 16:26:08 +0000
Negros Occidental Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer called on officials of Bacolod City to support the provincial government ordinance banning the entry in the province of pork and pork products from areas infected by the African swine fever (ASF).
Ferrer was reacting to reports that the city government wanted to harmonize efforts in the fight against ASF.
City agriculturist Goldwyn Nifras and city veterinarian Ma. Agueda Trinidad de la Torre are set to meet wit h their counterparts in the provincial government to define the parameters of the ordinance.
“I would like to see a harmonized policy. We cannot be independent of each other on a matter like this. There has to be coordination, harmony and symphony,” Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said.
Last month, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Council) passed Provincial Ordinance 2019-024, which permanently bans pork and related products from Luzon and countries affected by ASF.
The ban covers pigs, boar semen, pork and related products, but is not limited to canned goods and foods that contain pork — whether cooked or uncooked and originating from, manufactured in and processed in Luzon, as well as in areas declared by the Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization for Animal Health to be affected by ASF.
Provincial veterinarian Renante Decena said there was a need to protect the swine industry in Negros Occidental, the country’s top backyard hog producer, with a P6-billion swine industry.
Ferrer said while they respect the jurisdiction and territory of Bacolod as a “highly urbanized city,” it is the responsibility of the provincial government to protect the local hog producers from the effects of ASF.
“If the problem is supply, I urge my fellow Negrenses to patronize our local pork products,” the vice governor said.
Penalties for those violating the ban range from P1,000 to P5,000 and one-year imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offense.
Latest report showed the Provincial ASF Task Force quarantine team had confiscated P2.51 million worth of pork and pork-based products at the Bacolod-Silay Airport and other ports of entry since the province’s 90-day ban on pork from Luzon started in September.
On October 1, Leonardia issued Executive Order 29, also enforcing a 90-day ASF pork ban in support of a similar action by the provincial government.