Heightened Checkpoints Vs. Imported Pork – SINAG

AFTER ASF CLAIMS AGAIN COUNTLESS DEAD HOGS

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

ROSALES,Pangasinan – The government should secure its borders and put checkpoints to avoid the proliferation of the African Swine Fever (ASF) infected imported frozen pork that wrought havocs to places in Central and Northern Luzon.

“So ang sinasabi natin basta may threat ang pagpasok ng frozen may threat na talaga kaya very strict tayo sa borders natin. Siyempre hindi natin alam kung nakakalusot e doon sa check points natin,” declared by Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) President  Rosendo So when this writer asked him about the deaths of swine in Bataan and Tarlac Provinces,  Binmaley, Malasiqui, and Dagupan City in Pangasinan.

Authorities reported that pigs in Bataan and Tarlac have been inflicted with the virus.

SAFE. (Front row from left) Department of Agriculture Secretary William Dar, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, and Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura (SINAG) President Rosendo So bite a part of a roasted pig displayed inside the Manila City Hall to assure all and sundry in the country that pork is safe to consume despite the reported cases of African Swine Fever scourging on various places in Central and Northern Luzon.

Dr Alberto Venturina, provincial veterinarian of Bataan, said laboratory results showed that random blood samples from pigs in the towns of Dinalupihan and Hermosa were positive for ASF.

Officials of the provincial government of Pangasinan and the chartered city of Dagupan said that the virus killed several numbers of hogs in January 8 this year in Binmaley while countless swine were found dead in Barangay Carael in Dagupan.

21 pigs in Barangay Linoc, Binmaley were culled last January 14 to contain the spread of ASF. According to Pangasinan provincial veterinarian Jovito Tabarejos, blood samples of these pigs tested positive for the virus.

Tabarejos cited that the culled pigs were just under the one-kilometer radius of a piggery in Binmaley where 34 pigs died of ASF last week.

Recently, villages in Apaya and Polay Norte in Malasiqui saw municipal officials and livestock owners culled those dead and live hogs in the critical one kilometer as part of the 1-7-10 protocol mandated by the Department of Agriculture.

Local authorities call too for vigilance of checkpoint personnel in the entry and exit points of the huge province.

SINAG President So said the joint tasked force of government and the private sectors, where he is prominent member, flagged down recently a vehicle carrying uncertified frozen meat bound to La Union.

“Kaya kagabi may nahuli tayo sa process meat going La Union pero pinabaon natin”.

One of the local government units the SINAG chief wanted to monitor is Dagupan City where sale of frozen meats were unhampered.

A kilo of frozen meat there is peg at P130 a kilo while the same kilo of locally butchered pork is P200.

“Iyon nga diyan  sa Dagupan iyon ang dapat nating malaman”.

The SINAG President said countries with ASF are Germany, Poland, Belgium, and other European nations and China.

“Germany dahil may Poland na hinalo tapos Belgium may mga European Countries of course iyan smuggle from China iyon ang mga countries. Almost I think 18 countries ang bonding sa atin”.

When asked that meat sellers in Dagupan City said that pork comes from Canada and the United States thus not included to those ASF afflicted countries, So said the problem of these imported swine meats in the two countries do not undergo test in the Philippines.

“Kaya sabi namin dapat mag pa test lahat dito sa atin bansa. Worth worker policy dapat hindi doon kasi doon ang source”.

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