THE provincial government appears to be losing the battle against the spread of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in Central Pangasinan as 1,441 more hogs were again culled last week in six barangays, bringing to 3,479 the number of hogs that were so far culled since January this year in the third outbreak of the disease.

To date, hogs in 11 towns and three cities located in the central part of Pangasinan have already been infected as veterinarians fear more barangays will be hit unless drastic measures are adopted.

In the light of the situation, Provincial Veterinarian Jovito Tabarejos said he is set to recommend to Governor Amado Espino III and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to place the province under the state of calamity because of the raging spread of ASF.

A report from the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) showed that the hogs recently culled were in Barangays Quesban, Calasiao, 105; Cabueldatan, Malasiqui, 176; Calobaoan, San Carlos City, 751; Pantal, Bugallon, 313; and Batel, Mangaldan, 52.

Still, 408 live hogs in 19 barangays have been subjected to mandatory blood sampling to find out if they too were infected with ASF.

Tabarejos blames hog raisers who attempt to hide their infected hogs in other barangays, increasing the chances for the ASF virus to spread in order to prevent losses in their investment while others slaughter their sick pigs in their own houses and quickly sell the meat to their neighbors.

He earlier called on barangay offices to cooperate and report immediately to their municipal and city veterinarians mass deaths of hogs in their areas.

Records show only backyard raisers are affected as the big pig farms in the province have adopted tight bio-security to protect their hogs from the ASF virus.

Since there is no cure for ASF that infect hogs that simply die after four to eight days, culling, using the 1-7-10 protocol, remains as the only option available to prevent the disease from spreading from one area to another.

Culling of hogs within the one-kilometer radius from ground zero were already previously done since January in barangays of Binmaley, Malasiqui, Basista, Urdaneta City, Dagupan City, Lingayen, Calasiao, Bugallon, Mangaldan, and San Carlos City.

Recall that ASF first broke out in September last year when a hog trader from Barangay Baloling, Mapandan bought infected hogs from Bulacan. Sometime in November, several more hogs owned by raisers in Barangay Apalen, Bayambang were found infected and culled.

The third outbreak broke out in early January in Barangay Linoc, Binmaley whose two infected hogs were traced to Barangay Apaya, Malasiqui, and spread to neighboring Barangay Pulong Norte.

To date, three LGUs–Binmaley, San Carlos City and Calasiao–already declared a state of calamity after their hogs in their few barangays were subjected to mandatory culling. (Leonardo Micua)

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