DAVAO CITY – Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza has urged the Department of Agriculture to establish a satellite animal disease diagnostic laboratory in Cotabato province as part of measures to contain the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF).
PASSENGERS step on footbaths in a quarantine checkpoint in Makilala, Cotabato. The provincial government has beefed up biosecurity measures to contain African Swine Fever. (Keith Bacongco)
The laboratory would help hasten the process to determine if the hogs in a specific area are positive for ASF, Mendoza said.
As of now, specimens are being taken to the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory Office in General Santos City which is at least 140 kilometers away from Kidapawan City, the capital of Cotabato province, she added.
This laboratory is the sole facility that serves the entire Region 12 composed of the provinces of Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat.
“It will take us about three hours of land travel. Although the laboratory can immediately release the result, it will also take time to wait because there are others in the queue,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza suggested that the DA put up satellite laboratories in strategic areas to hasten the sampling of suspected ASF-hit areas and help speed up measures to contain the disease.
As of August 14, the governor reported that 6,712 hogs from 65 out of 480 barangays in 11 municipalities in Cotabato have been depopulated. Cotabato is composed of 17 towns and a city.
Mendoza added that the ASF outbreak has affected 733 farmers who have incurred an estimated P71 million in losses.
Movement of hogs and pork are restricted and other biosecurity measures have been implemented within affected municipalities.
Since the first ASF case was reported in early July, local government units have established quarantine checkpoints to prevent the entry of any frozen pork products.
Mendoza bared that she has ordered the police to treat ASF like a crime and conduct investigation as she suspects that some large-scale hog raisers could be keeping some information.
The governor added that large-scale hog raisers may have already been affected by the ASF but just kept the information. “Ang kawawa ang mga backyard hog raisers (Backyard hog raisers are affected).”
Mendoza said that the provincial government wants to know if there was negligence among local government officials that resulted in the spread of ASF.
The governor disclosed that ASF is already affecting the prices of pork products in every municipality.
The provincial government, with augmentation from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, has initially distributed P3,000 cash assistance and food packs to each affected hog raisers in the province.