TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) — The City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) seized on Friday around P1.6 million worth of assorted frozen pork meat products from Bulacan as part of the City Government’s total ban on pork-related products coming from Luzon amid the African Swine Fever Scare.

The delivery van of Marby Food Ventures which was transporting 700 crates of frozen meat products was intercepted at around 10:20 AM on Friday at the Veterinary Quarantine Checkpoint in San Juanico Bridge.

According to City Veterinarian Dr. Eunice Alcantara, the meat products were confiscated due to incomplete documents required for meat products to enter the city.

“The driver only showed us the delivery receipt of the products coming from Bulacan, which is considered as the “ground zero” for ASF that is why we confiscated the shipment, “said Alcantara.

Delivery receipts showed that the products were bound to be delivered to stores in Tacloban, Ormoc, Digos City, Iligan City, San Francisco City, Koronadal City, Butuan, and Surigao.

“Shipments of Meat and other frozen meat products from outside Tacloban should have documents such as License to operate from the Food and Drug Administration, Certificate of Product Registration, Shipping Permit and Veterinary Health Certificate in case there are shipments of livestock,” she explained.

Last September 27, 2019, Mayor Alfred Romualdez issued Executive Order No. 19-09-6 to ban the entry of swine from Luzon and other identified ASF-affected areas.

The EO also created an executive committee and taskforce tasked to adopt an ASF Preparedness and Contingency Plan to protect local hog raisers.

The confiscated products will be buried at the City’s Sanitary Landfill in Barangay San Roque.

Meantime, the City Veterinarian said that there is no possibility that the city will have a shortage of hogs products because it has sufficient supply.

“We need not worry about the pork supplies in the city, we have enough supplies coming from Mindanao,” Alcantara said.

As reported by the CVO, there is no recorded case yet of ASF here in the city and nearby municipalities.

ASF is a deadly viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs and is known to cause devastating economic effects. It is, however, not a threat to human health according to experts. – H. J. Roca/CIO