Interview:

Dr. Ryan Janoya

Chief, Animal Health and Meat Inspection Services
Provincial Veterinary Office

1. What is the status of our province regarding ASF? Can we still assure the public that Negros is ASF
free?

2. Are we going to impose total ban in the entry of pork products from Luzon into the Island of Negros?

3. Do we have enough supply of pork from local producers?

4. What special measures are we doing to prevent the entry of ASF to Negros Occidental?

5. Given the worst case scenario, if ever ASF would slip through our ports and contaminate our hog
industry in Negros, what contingency plan do we have to prevent it from spreading?

6. In your opinion, given that strict measures are in place, how soon can we eradicate the ASF epidemic
from our country?

7. What advice can you give to our listeners to help prevent the entry of ASF into our province?

63 kilos of ‘hot meat’ seized in Bacolod

Panay News | November 5, 2019

Authorities here seized 63 kilos of “hot meat” in separate operations in Barangay Banago.

Task Force Botagoy head Edward Martin Pinaga said they seized 28 kilograms of meat being sold on the
road side in Purok Tinagong Paraiso, while another 35 kilograms were confiscated in nearby Purok
Riverside on Monday.

“Hot meat” means carcass or parts of a carcass of food animals that were slaughtered by unaccredited
meat establishments. This raises the possibility that the meat being sold may potentially be unsafe or
spoiled.

“We immediately conducted routine inspections after receiving complaints from residents,” Pinaga said.

The confiscated meat, according to Pinaga, was found to be illegally slaughtered.

“These erring vendors blamed the distance of the slaughterhouse from Barangay Banago and also
claimed they did not know that it was required for all hogs planned for slaughter to be processed at the
accredited slaughterhouse,” he said.

Pinaga, however, said they did not impose penalties from the violators aside from confiscating their
products since it was their first offense.

The seized meat products were immediately brought to Barangay Handumanan and buried.

Earlier, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia issued an executive order creating Task Force African Swine
Fever to ensure the city’s protection against the highly contagious animal disease.

The task force is one of the members of the swine fever task force with a primary function of conducting
meat inspections.

VisMin to ban Luzon pork products permanently

The Manila Bulletin | November 4, 2019

Some local government units (LGUs) in Visayas and Mindanao are looking to ban permanently the entry
of processed pork products from Luzon as part of their long-term measures to prevent the deadly
African Swine Fever (ASF) from entering their backyard farms.

Renante Decena, provincial veterinarian of Negros Occidental, said his entire province is now looking to
come up with a provincial ordinance permanently closing its doors against pork and processed pork
shipments from ASF-hit Luzon.
“We have to have a permanent law or ordinance that will prevent the entry [of processed pork products
from Luzon],” Decena said. “We understand that ASF will not be eradicated for years in Luzon.” Other
provinces in Western Visayas are also expected to follow suit, he said.

Decena said if the ban was put in place, live hogs and other pork-related products from areas and other
countries identified by the Department of Agriculture (DA) to be affected by ASF cannot enter the
province.

The provincial official also stated that the temporary ban will last until December 18, although they are
expecting a new ordinance, which could further extend the ban.

With the Christmas holidays just a few weeks away, local pork producers assured that there is enough
supply of pork to meet the demand until the end of the year.

Decena also emphasized that the task force did not let up in its monitoring against the entry of pork
products at entry points all over the province.

In Mindanao, there are only a few provinces left — with the exception of the Muslim Provinces under
Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — that have not issued an Executive Order (EO)
banning the entry of pork and processed pork products from areas affected by ASF.

Marlo Raphael Tee, a hog raiser in Mindanao, said there has been some attempts to bring in some of
these products in Zamboanga and the local industry is not letting up. “There is now a lockdown in our
province,” he said.

While not dangerous to humans, ASF is highly contagious and can causes up to 100 percent fatality in
pigs. United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization noted that ASF virus is resistant to inactivation
and may remain viable for long periods in fomites, infected pig tissues, and meat and processed pig
products. There is currently no effective vaccine against the virus.

In the absence of a cure, the only available option for ASF eradication is stamping out by slaughter and
disposal of all infected and potentially infected pigs.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) international animal health code specifies that a country
may be considered free from ASF when it has been shown that ASF has not been present for at least
three years.

Because of ASF, affected hog raisers in the country already incurred P10 billion worth of losses in the last
two months, while the local meat processing industry expects to lose around ₱40 billion to ₱50 billion
this year.

Decena said Negros has the largest number of individual backyard hog raisers in the country at 16,000,
raising two to three pigs each. In total, they have 510,000 pigs raised in their backyard farms.

“We have to have a law that will penalize the people who will bring in contaminated meat [from Luzon]
especially from Pampanga because we have direct flight from Clark to Bacolod. We already confiscated
hand carried items,” he added.

In terms of pork supply, Decena said the province has a surplus and they are actually a “food secure”
livestock province.

Negros’ provincial ordinance banning the entry of processed pork products from Luzon should already
be effective by November.

Cebu, Bohol, and other areas in Western Visayas are now looking at issuing the same order, Decena
added.

Philippine Association of Meat Processors, Inc., the country’ largest group of meat processors, earlier
claimed that there will not be enough hams and other pork products in Visayas and Mindanao during
Christmas because of the LGUs’ existing bans on pork products.

In contrast to this, a hog raiser said that Central Visayas alone could supply the pork supply needs even
of its neighboring provinces.

“There will be no pork shortage over the next three months,” Central Visayas Pork Producers President
Rolando Tambago said. “Even in processed pork meat, we will not have any problem.
In the Philippines, ASF was first detected in August in Rizal province and had since then spread to other
areas in Luzon, including Bulacan, Pampanga, Quezon City, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Cavite, Pangasinan, and
Antipolo.

To control the spread of the virus, around 64 LGUs in and out of Luzon already imposed a total and
conditional ban on processed meat products.

Bohol Govenor Arthur Yap went ballistic upon hearing that Department of the Interior and Local
Government ordered LGUs to allow the entry of processed meat products from Luzon provided that
they carry all the necessary permits.

“It is really very simple and uncomplicated. Please tell the DA [Department of Agriculture] I am willing to
open up Bohol to all hog related products from Luzon as long as I have a guarantee letter that the
government will compensate Bohol for the culling and disposal of affected dead hogs from ASF and that
my backyard raisers will be compensated properly and immediately upon proof of damages, if and
when, ASF gets to Bohol,” Yap said. “If that can be reflected in the budget and the DA will give me a
signed guarantee with a mechanism releasing the payment for compensation then we are ready to open
up Bohol.”

While LGUs are keeping their bans despite the DILG order, Cavite is “breaking away” from it.

A statement showed that Cavite province has lifted the ban on the sale and distribution of processed
pork products.

“Canned goods and processed pork products may be transported as long as the same is authorized by
the FDA and other concerned government agencies,” Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla said in an EO.
Cavite is the latest province to have contracted the ASF virus.

Pork from China caused African swine fever outbreak in Philippines

Rappler.com | November 04, 2019

The Department of Agriculture (DA) pointed to smuggled pork from China as the culprit behind the
outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the Philippines.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar said in a press briefing on Monday, November 4, that illegal shipments
seized by authorities at the Port of Manila last October were a clear indication that the virus originated
from China.

Last month, shipments from China were declared as tomato paste and vermicelli, but were later
discovered to be pork upon physical inspection. Tests then confirmed that the meat was positive for
ASF.

Dar went on to say that these products were likely dumped in Rodriguez, Rizal, where local hog raisers
fed the infected meat to pigs.

China's swine herd is down by about 40%, and the shortage has caused prices to soar.

The shortage is being exacerbated by stuttering imports from the United States due to the lingering
trade war.

A Rabobank report warned China could lose 200 million pigs during the epidemic, with some farmers
fearing that the figures are actually much higher.

Philippine authorities previously said that canned and processed meat from overseas Filipino workers
who went home as well as hotel food waste were the causes of the outbreak. Officials did not
categorically name countries then.

Government agencies are now eyeing pressing charges against traders. Smuggling probes are within the
jurisdiction of the Bureau of Customs.