Live Pigs Denied Entry in Cebu

Some 250 live pigs from the Negros Oriental province were banned from entering the territory of Cebu province following the scare brought by the dreaded African swine fever. Due to lacking papers on farm registration, they were questioned to weather they are backyard raised or commercially raised.

Provincial Veterinarian Renante Decena said a trader from Negros Oriental had purchased backyard swine from a livestock auction market in Kabankalan City here. The livestock was transported from the port of Amlan town, Negros Oriental to the port of Santander, Cebu. However, Cebu provincial authorities barred on Tuesday, September 17, the entry of the hogs.

Pigs with no Visa?

Decena said the trader was prevented from unloading the livestock because these did not have farm registration papers from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). The BAI guidelines stipulate that permits will only be given to animals from commercial farms, and not those raised in backyards

He said the livestock passed through a Negros Occidental quarantine officer “who issued the necessary permits to prove the live pigs from Kabankalan were free from ASF virus.”

Cebu, like Negros Occidental, has also banned the entry of pork and pork products from Luzon. Visayas and Mindanao have so far remained ASF-free. Decena said the policy of the Cebu provincial government contradicted with the guidelines of the national government which had no provision which required a farm registration for the shipment of backyard animals.