SOON after the Department of Agriculture confirmed that it was African Swine Fever (ASF) that caused the sudden high swine mortality in Rizal and Bulacan provinces, Gov. Amado  Espino III issued an executive order implementing a temporary total ban on the entry of all live swine into the province.

This was confirmed by Dr. Jovito Tabajeros, OPVet’s Assistant Provincial Veterinarian, as he maintained that the province is still African Swine Flu-free and assured that the hog industry is completely safe.

Under the executive order, even hogs covered with veterinary health certificates and shipping permits loaded in trucks that may be intercepted in any of the quarantine checkpoints will not be allowed to enter the province as these documents can easily be faked.

He said tightly monitored are the slaughter houses in the province that are required to have National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS) inspectors that will check all meat sold in the markets although there are still towns in Pangasinan without a meat inspector.

He advised the public to check if the meat being sold to them have been issued meat inspection certificate issued by NMIS.

“Meat sold without inspection certificate is considered hot meat.”. Tabajeros said.

As a protocol, quarantine officers of the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPVet) are deputized to install quarantine checkpoints in possible entry points of swine shippers from all regions, such as the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway and other strategic road lines.

Tabajeros said OPVet recently monitored pneumonia affecting large animals including pigs in the province but this should not concern the public because there are medicines and vaccines for the disease.

Meanwhile, P/Colonel Redrico Maranan, police provincial director, said the police continue to monitor all points of entry with OPVet’s technical people to block the swine to enter in the province.

Checkpoints remain in in Rosales, Umingan, Sison, San Fabian, Urdaneta City, Binalonan, Pozorrubio, Bayambang, Infanta and Mangatarem to ensure that no pigs will be smuggled due to the current temporary total ban imposed on pigs from outside the province. Maranan said entry of 30 trucks containing nearly 300 pigs have been blocked and ordered to return to their points of origin a as part of the precautionary measure implemented by the Provincial Government to protect the hog industry in the province. (Leonardo Micua/Nora Dominguez)

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