CEBU CITY – Culling of pigs has been suspended in the African Swine Fever (ASF)-affected Carcar City in southern Cebu. GOV. Garcia (FB)
The suspension was ordered by Gov. Gwen Garcia who said the province will come up with its own procedures in determining ASF infection. Garcia noted that there were no massive deaths of pigs in Cebu which was supposedly expected to happen days after an ASF infection is detected in an area. The governor said the infection that affected swines in Carcar  may have just been a common swine fever or common swine cholera. "I said OK immediately stop the culling," Garcia told reporters on Monday afternoon, March 13, after her meeting with mayors and other concerned agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Meat Inspection Agency. Garcia said Cebu will come up with its own policy in managing ASF. "We will now do our own policy as what we did during Covid-19 where we found that some of the policies that were being imposed upon the hapless population which included the poor who could not speak out and which made no sense to me at all, who saw the situation on the ground,” she said As of March 13, 141 pigs have been culled in Carcar as part of the policy set by the DA. Garcia also ordered the Provincial Veterinary's Office to look for other methods for ASF testing. She said tests should be done only to pigs manifesting symptoms in the farms. There should also be a spleen test, Garcia said. Disinfection of backyard  farms shall also be imposed while transport of pigs out of Carcar remains prohibited, said Garcia. Garcia said she is defying the DA policy to protect the affected Cebuanos, who are seeking help after their pigs have been scheduled to be culled. "I will always stand for Cebu and I will always stand up for the Cebuanos. I am not accountable to people from Manila, I am accountable to the Cebuanos that voted me into this office," Garcia said.