Bago City to activate anti-ASF checkpoints

BACOLOD City – The Bago City government will be implementing its antiAfrican swine fever ( ASF) checkpoints next week in accordance with the new guidelines issued by the Negros Occidental provincial government against the possible flare-up of the hog disease.

Mayor Nicholas Yulo said he recently called a meeting with the City Veterinary Office and their local ASF Task Force.

Yulo has ordered them to set up checkpoints along Barangay Taloc and Tabunan to ensure non- entry of pork shipments from the neighboring Bacolod City, an ASF “red zone.”

Earlier on Monday, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson signed Executive Order ( EO) 2407, establishing guidelines for the entry of all live pigs, boar semen, pork, products, and other pork- related food items from areas with reported cases of ASF into the province.

The EO bans the entry of hogs and pork products f rom Luzon, Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Panay Island, Guimaras Island, Cebu province, including Camotes and Bantayan Islands, Negros Oriental, Bacolod City, and countries affected by ASF as may be detected by the Department of Agriculture.

The entry of hogs and pork byproducts in ports, such as in the Negros Occidental cities of San Carlos, Escalante, and Cadiz, as well as the towns of E. B. Magalona and Pulupandan, will be prohibited.

Howe v e r, t h e b a n exempts f u l l y- c ooked processed pork products, such as ham, sausages, hotdogs, canned goods, pork chicharon, and porkbased seasonings, provided that they are sourced from meat establishments with a certificate of compliance from the ASF Public-Private Audit.