African Swine Fever (ASF) could spread anew in the province of Catanduanes and decimate the swine population if the 11 towns fail to strictly implement border controls against the entry of undocumented hogs from the mainland.
This was raised at last week’s meeting of the Provincial ASF Task Force (PASTF) after it was learned that personnel of the Municipal Agriculture Office in Caramoran town were unable to “enter” the coastal barangay of Dariao to check the reported unloading of swine from Camarines Sur or Albay.
The hogs are allegedly brought in on board motorized bancas and presumably sold in Caramoran and nearby towns.
“Hindi nila kayang pasukin ang barangay,” the report claimed, which did not exactly state if the team was accompanied by police officers.
It is suspected that most of the pigs offloaded in Dariao do not have the required permits from the Provincial Veterinary Office in Camarines Sur.
The shippers in Caramoan coastal barangays allegedly want to get the permits but find it difficult to do so due to the area’s distance from issuing office although some “biyaheros” have secured the required document.
It may be recalled that the lone piglet in Pandan that tested positive for ASF reportedly came from Tubli in Caramoran town.
Provincial Veterinarian Dr. Jane Rubio confirmed that it was Pandan Mayor Raul Tabirara who requested the PVO to collect blood samples from the two sick piglets in backyard piggery in barangay Pandan del Sur on June 11.
It was not explained how the chief executive learned of the sick piglets or if it was the owner who informed the local government unit.
One blood sample tested positive in the VDRF-ASF Rapid Test, which detects the presence of the ASF virus antigen within 15 minutes.
The sick piglet was stamped out or killed the next morning and the carcass buried in a hole, with Mayor Tabirara paying the owner for the cost of the piglet.
A confirmatory test was done on the same sample at the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) using a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine, which yielded a positive result on June 18.
The other piglet left alive, Dr. Rubio said, pursuant to a new policy on selective depopulation that applies to one or two cases of suspected ASF-infected pigs.
When the number rises to three and above, she disclosed, all pigs within a 500-meter radius will have to be depopulated.
On June 19, Governor Joseph Cua directed all 11 municipal governments to reactivate their respective ASF task forces and establish checkpoints to inspect all incoming and outgoing live hog and meat shipments.
As of last week, the PASTF stated, only the towns of Gigmoto, Viga and Caramoran have yet to put up checkpoints on its main entry and exit points.
Dr. Rubio said that one blood sample was collected in barangay Napo, Pandan on June 19, followed by 40 in Virac, 59 in San Andres and one more in Pandan.
Due to the limited number of reagents for the rapid test, all the samples were sent to the RADDL for confirmation.
The other municipalities were scheduled to conduct blood collection starting last week until this Wednesday, July 3.
During the task force meeting, the PVO stressed that everyone should take note of unusual pig sickness or deaths and immediately report the matter to the authorities.
Otherwise, the hog raiser would most likely slaughter the suspected ASF cases in order to recover his costs.
It was also advised that pigslop or kitchen scrap should not be used to feed hogs to avoid the spread of diseases.
In the case of processed or raw meat brought into the island, the PVO said that the shipment should be covered by a Meat Inspection Certificate.
Dr. Rubio recalled that before the last outbreak, Gov. Cua issued his ASF memo as early as September 2019, but the first ASF cases in Catanduanes was detected on Dec. 7, 2020.
The following week until Feb. 16, 2021, the disease spread quickly to 76 barangays in 10 towns, with only Bagamanoc spared but largely due to the alleged refusal of backyard raisers to have blood samples collected from their hogs.
By this time, ASF led to the depopulation of 1,870 animals and affected a total of 126 farmers, with the DA releasing a total of P9.35 million as indemnification.
Six months later, with the disease on the wane, 452 blood samples collected randomly tested negative for ASF.
In the interim, the PVO and local agriculture offices trained a total of 301 barangay kagawads as Barangay Biosecurity Officers (BBOs) or Barangay Animal Health Workers (BAHWs) in each town.
Sentinel pigs totaling 495 were distributed to the 10 towns, as follows: Baras, 58; Bato, 110; Caramoran, 14; Gigmoto, 27; Pandan, 26; Panganiban, 13; San Andres, 105; San Miguel, 82; Viga, 9; and Virac, 51.
The pigs were placed in pigpens where ASF infections previously occurred and were monitored for 40 days if the hog raiser complied with health measures.
Of this number, the authorities recorded 52 mortalities but none were due to ASF while subsequent tests of blood samples from 255 pigs also yielded negative results.
Active surveillance done throughout 2023, with 1,090 blood samples collected, also proved that ASF had been eliminated.
The 10 towns were subsequently declared ASF-free by the municipal mayors upon the recommendation of their respective task forces.
Under a calibrated repopulation program, the DA distributed piglets to the affected towns: Virac, 81; San Miguel, 132; Viga, 18; San Andres, 168; Caramoran, 24; Pandan, 33; Bato, 123; Baras, 96; Panganiban, 42; and Gigmoto, 25.
Dr. Rubio likewise raised the need to deputize and train a new set of BAHWs as most of them lost in the 2023 barangay elections.
There is also the problem of most municipal LGUs not having their own accredited slaughterhouses, with most butchers preferring to have hogs slaughtered in barangays to avoid fees charged by LGUs.
Virac is currently constructing a new slaughterhouse under a grant from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS).