Gov Aris declares mandatory

Hog depopulation in Batuan

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Dec 6 (PIA)—Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado has declared the 100 meter radius of the pigpen from where the hogs’ blood sample showed positive for African Swine Fever (ASF) and mandatory depopulation area where pigs, whether testing positive or negative, have to be stamped out to contain the animal disease, which is now traced in Purok 2, Poblacion Sur, Batuan.

All pigs within this radius are mandatorily depopulated, entry and exit of pigs banned in the next three months, while the pigpens which yielded the positive for infection results cordoned off for a month, and entry, only by the authorized disinfection team.

The governor’s directive is based on the Department of Agriculture’s Memorandum Circular No 10. Series of 2019 and Administrative Order No. 22 series of 2020, as guidelines in the veterinary quarantine movement protocols, mandatory test and destruction as well as swine depopulation after a confirmed ASF case.

Aumentado, who sits as chairman of the Bohol ASF Task Force, issued Executive Order No. 55, which declared the ASF infected premises, quarantine areas and surveillance areas in Poblacion, Batuan, Bohol.

It may be recalled that on December 2, 2024, when the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) of Batuan reported to the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV) of the multiple swine deaths in Barangay Poblacion Sur, the OPV sent a team to investigate.

There, the composite team gathered blood samples and had these examined at the OVP-managed POCKIT Central polymerase chain reaction veterinary analyzer in Ubay.

The results showed some samples positive of ASF Deoxyribonucleic acid virus, but these have to be sent to the DA Regional Animal Disease diagnostic laboratory for confirmation.

But while awaiting for the confirmation, veterinary authorities, acting on the current protocols for ASF control and containment, immediately implemented measures to contain the swine disease and control any potential outbreak.

ASF is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, whose mortality rate can reach 100%, according to the World Organization of Animal Health.

“While is does not pose a danger to human health, the devastating effects of ASF on pig populations and the farming economy, can not be downplayed,” Bohol governor Aumentado explained during a TF meeting at the Capitol.

ASF virus is highly resistant in the environment, it can survive on clothes, boots, wheels, and other materials and it can also survive in various pork products, such as ham, sausages or bacon, even when these undergo processes.

A few weeks ago, another case of the ASF was reported in San Vicente San Miguel, but the OPV and in coordination with LGU san Miguel and local officials implemented quarantine area, and cordoned off the affected area, implemented mandatory depopulation and random tested pigs outside of the 100 meters.

There were apparently no more cases that surfaced after the three index cases in San Miguel.

However, a few days later, the Poblacion Sur incident in Batuan came out.

It could also not be confirmed as of news day, if the Batuan incident is an offshoot of the San Miguel incident.

While the San Miguel case is Bohol’s third documented ASF incursion since the diseases was monitored in the country, the first three cases which include the recent San Miguel case, have all been successfully controlled and cleared.

Many have assumed that the virus, in all the documented cases, came with the smuggling of processed food, which port surveillance units may not have been successfully intercepting.

Observers have reported to the Bohol ASF Task Force that Roll-on-Roll-Off vehicles entering Bohol are not subjected to physical search, a potential loophole in the efforts to keep contaminated raw and processed meat from entering Bohol.

In Batuan, while mandatory stamping out of pigs is done inside the 100 meter radius of the index cases, the governor’s EO also include random testing and gathering of blood samples outside the 100 meters and implementing mandatory depopulation as soon as a positive case is noted. (rahc/PIABohol)

EFFECTIVE PROTOCOLS. Bohol has had three ASF infections in the past and all of these have been effectively controlled using a quick quarantine control implementation, and with Batuan now, ASF Task Force Chair Gov Erico Aristotle Aumentado believes that if Boholanos continue to cooperate, the protection of the P5B hog industry here is secured. (PIABohol)