VIRUS SPILLOVER. Mayor Marina Luz Gorriceta of the municipality of San Miguel, Iloilo on Tuesday (Oct. 25, 2022) confirmed cases of African swine fever were detected in the municipality. The municipality is the second local government unit in Iloilo province to be affected by ASF after the town Oton. (PNA file photo)
ILOILO CITY – The municipality of San Miguel has recorded four cases of African swine fever (ASF) and has been put under a state of calamity.
San Miguel Mayor Marina Luz Gorriceta, in a phone interview on Tuesday, said they have identified the ground zero in Barangay San Jose and all hogs within a 1 km. radius would be quarantined.
“We have established the .5 radius (kilometer) and they will be visited to subject them to test,” Gorriceta said.
Acting on the reported spillover of ASF, Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on Tuesday afternoon signed Executive Order 460-A expanding the Red (infected) Zone in the province to cover the towns of San Miguel and Oton.
The movement of live pigs, pork, pork products (fresh/frozen, uncooked processed pork products, except cooked and canned processed pork products), and swine genetic materials in and out of the two municipalities shall be prohibited.
Gorriceta said after the reported outbreak in Oton, they immediately established seven border controls as their first line of defense as they are only separated by a creek.
“We just hope that we can recover after this,” the mayor said.
Apart from Barangay San Jose, they also received calls from other barangays whose residents bought piglets from a farm in Oton where the first cases were reported.
San Miguel has a hog population of 6,000 to 7,000.
Iloilo Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada said 23 barangays in Oton have positive cases of ASF, based on their surveillance.
Out of the 331 samples submitted to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostics Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture, 122 were found to be ASF-positive.
He also called on areas in the Pink (buffer) Zone to strengthen their border control because of the expected spillover of the virus.
Those in the Pink Zone have no ASF cases but are adjacent to the Red Zone.
Defensor also met with the mayors of the province’s 43 local government units on Tuesday morning and explained to them the protocols and guidelines on the movement of pork and pork products, as stipulated in Executive Order 460 that he released on October 17.
“Commerce will continue based on those guidelines. It will be cascaded to the local industry at the municipal level,” he said.
Department of Agriculture Administrative Circular 2, series of 2022 provided the guidelines for the zonal movement.
Defensor added that each family whose farm has been affected by the depopulation would receive PHP20,000 in financial assistance, consisting of PHP10,000 from the provincial government and PHP10,000 from the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. (PNA)
