BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental governor Eugenio Jose Lacson appeals to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to allow shipments of pork and pork products bound for Eastern Visayas to pass through Cebu province.
“I did already write a letter to Gov. Gwen Garcia, requesting kung pwede ma-lift ang executive order niya, considering Negros has not been declared an African Swine Fever (ASF) red zone,” Lacson said.
Lacson added that Rey Dela Rama, head of one of the local hog raisers groups, requested the provincial government to intervene.
Garcia issued an executive order implementing a temporary ban on the entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, pork, and pork-related products from Negros Island into Cebu from March 6 to April 5, 2023.
The order came after ASF was detected in Carcar City. The ASF-positive swine allegedly mingled with those from Negros.
Following this, Lacson and Bacolod City mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez issued a joint executive order on March 7 prohibiting the entry of pork products from Cebu province, including the Bantayan and Camotes islands.
The Negros Occidental governor instead suggested sending shipments to Manila, but local farmers complained of the low pricing of pork there.
“[We can understand] that businessmen will always look for a better income, so I don’t have the exact figure, but maybe in a week we will be able to see a better picture,” Lacson said.
Earlier, Negros Occidental administrator Atty. Rayfrando Diaz also urged Garcia to reconsider the ban.
“This is a matter of food security in other provinces,” Diaz pointed out.
Negros Occidental is one of the top backyard hog producers in the country, with an industry pegged at more than P6 billion.
Negros Occidental remained ASF-free due to its strict biosecurity protocols./PN
