MANDAUE City is planning to implement strict border control by next week to screen hogs and pork products coming into the city.
Dr. Karen Merilles of the Mandaue City Veterinary Office said Friday, March 10, 2023, they will hold a meeting with meat inspectors, Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), and other city government personnel for the implementation of border control measures, including the setting up of checkpoints, to prevent pigs contaminated with African Swine Fever (ASF) from entering the city.
She said veterinary meat inspectors have been ordered to check the city's public and satellite markets to see if the meat vendors have proper documents, particularly a Meat Inspection Certificate from the National Meat Inspection Services.
For slaughterhouses, Merilles said they instructed the personnel to scan their clients' documents thoroughly, such as presenting a veterinary health certificate, certificate of ownership for large animals, and certificate of transportation to ensure their pigs are clear of ASF.
In the national zoning plan released by the Department of Agriculture Central Visayas (DA 7) on March 5, Mandaue landed in the green or ASF-free zone.
Carcar City is the only one in the red zone or the infected zone.
The municipalities of Sibonga, Barili, San Fernando, and Aloguinsan have been classified as buffer zones or the nearest areas of the infected zone.
The towns of Argao, Dumanjug and Pinamungahan, and Naga City are called the yellow zones.
The protected or yellow-green zones are Toledo City, Alcantara, Moalboal, Ronda, Minglanilla, Badian and Dalaguete, and the rest of Cebu are in the green or free zones.
On March 3, Mayor Jonas Cortes issued Executive Order 13 series of 2023 imposing a ban on live hogs and pork-related products coming from the red (infected) and pink (buffer) zones for 30 days.
Asked if the city has enough supply of pork, Merilles replied they still had to rely on other local government units to meet the demands of consumers.
Currently, the city gets pork supplies from Pinamungahan, Mantalongon in Dalaguete, and Asturias, among others.
She claimed the city received less pork supplies from Carcar because there are few industrial hog farms in the area. (HIC)