BOHOL— The province of Bohol has imposed an absolute ban on the entry of live pigs, pork and processed-products from nearby Leyte and Southern Leyte due to the reported outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the area.

Executive Order (EO) No. 2, which was signed last January 15 by Governor Arthur Yap, expanded the prohibitions on the entry to Bohol of live hogs, frozen pork meat and pork related products and by-products, processed pork meat and frozen boar semen from Luzon and Mindanao.

According to Rey Anthony Chiu, provincial head of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA)-Bohol, earlier EOs excluded live hogs and pork or pork by-products that have National Meat Inspection Services (NMIS) certification or veterinary health certificate from the Bureau of Animal Industry Quarantine Services (BAI-QS).

This time, EO No. 2 imposes an absolute ban the entry of these animals and meat products from the two Eastern Visayas provinces, with or without the NMIS and BAI-QS certificates.

The move, according to the governor was in response to the growing number of ASF cases in Luzon and Mindanao, and reports from the local government units (LGUs) and Department of Agriculture (DA) officials in Leyte that the swine disease has already affected some areas in the two provinces, Chiu said.

According to Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Stella Marie Lapiz, there are over 50,000 hog growers and producers in Bohol, most of them backyard growers producing 86 percent of the total meat supply in the province.

“One single case of ASF in Bohol and it would have the potency to wipe out the entire hog industry, that would be devastating to the thousands of industry workers and the backyard growers whose incomes come from hog raising,” Lapiz said.

Chui bared that, late last year and in response to the recession in live hog and pork prices due to oversupply in Bohol, hog growers have shown interest in exporting their stocks to Luzon, whose market prices for live hogs and pork overshoot normal expectations because of the hog disease in Luzon.

Thus, Bohol authorities asked the governor to issue policies on transporting live hogs and pork products from Bohol.  

Executive Order No. 56 series of 2020 which Gov. Arthur Yap signed on Nov. 26, 2020 laid down the guidelines on the transport of live hogs via sea vessels directly plying the Bohol to Luzon and vice versa routes, and the transport of live hogs from Bohol to Luzon by land trip.

In 2019, the governor issued a memorandum addressed to Bohol mayors to assign personnel to assist in the port quarantine efforts considering that Bohol has unmanned beaches that could be landing areas for smuggled hogs and pork.

The province also put in order guidelines in the conduct of animal inspection, disinfection, issuance of veterinary health certificate and shipping permits, guidelines in the entry of feeds and raw materials to be used in the production of feeds, as well as the guidelines in the entry of empty livestock cargo vehicles to Bohol. 

“All these protect completely the livestock industry of Bohol from the ASF infestation,” authorities said.