NEGROS Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Monday, March 13, 2023, that Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has yet to reply on his request to lift the ban on pork and pork products entering her province.
Lacson earlier asked Garcia to lift the ban after local hog raisers expressed alarm as they cannot ship their products to Eastern Visayas as they need to pass by Cebu.
He earlier suggested some alternatives to the hog groups, such as shipping their products to Metro Manila instead, but the hog raisers have refused to do so due to the low buying price of pork there.
Lacson said the commercial hog raisers groups are only asking for pork and pork products bound for Leyte to be allowed to pass through Cebu, as the Eastern Visayan province is one of the biggest importers of pork from Negros Occidental.
Although the entry of pork and pork products originating from Cebu has been prohibited by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City through a joint executive order to maintain the status of being free from African swine fever (ASF), there is an exemption for canned goods originating from Cebu.
According to Lacson, the food supply in Negros Occidental will be negatively affected as most of the canned and processed pork products being imported into the province actually originated from Cebu.
Garcia earlier 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 was issued after the detection of ASF in a pig that came from Negros in a slaughterhouse in Carcar City, Cebu.
Negros Occidental, with a P6 billion hog industry, is one of the top backyard hog producers in the country.