Aris EO: moratorium on boar-for hire

operations, seeks trader registration

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, December 20 (PIA)—Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado ordered an immediate moratorium of boar for hire activities and required the accreditation of hog traders in Bohol, in efforts to contain the pockets of animal disease occurrences that has affected family farms here.

Through Executive Order No. 57 series of 2024, Aumentado’s order for immediate moratorium of boar for hire activities for six months, came after composite teams from the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV) doing disease investigation and surveillance noted that boar for hire operations and their continued activities have caused the recent pig disease outbreak in central Bohol.

This year, the first case of the virus incursion which has caused the depopulation of over a hundred pigs in Barangay San Vicente San Miguel, last month.

Before the authorities could declare the San Vicente incident as contained, another report of pigs dying happened in Poblacion Sur Batuan.

There, as the OPV composite team led by veterinarians implemented Department of Agriculture’s Memorandum Circular No 10. Series of 2019 and Administrative Order No. 22 series of 2020, which detailed quarantine procedures and protocols to contain the virus and disinfect them before it can hop out to infect other areas, Aumentado also ordered the release of indemnification funds for those pig owners whose animals were sacrificed in the depopulation.

At the recent Kapihan sa PIA, a veterinarian at the OPV said that they have sent the last blood samples collected from Poblacion Sur to the regional laboratory for confirmation, but hinted that those samples also went a gold standard test in the DA POCKIT veterinary analyzer and were already negative.

Dr. Domino Bayron, of the OPV hinted that their subsequent disease investigation showed that boar for hire operations and activities, as well as continued smuggling of contaminated meat in processed food which slips through the port inspections rank high in the causes of local infection.

While we have a port inspection teams doing the manual checking of hand carried baggage in case somebody attempts to smuggle pork or its processed products, with unscrupulous persons still clandestinely bringing in pork and pork products from infected areas into the province, Bohol has also set up an Inspectorate Team.

This Inspectorate and Inspection Team randomly goes around inspecting establishments selling processed pork and its products, to confiscate suspected and undocumented contaminated products, if only to keep these products from further contaminating Bohol, shares OPV supervising agriculturist Romulo Garcia at the Kapihan.

The moratorium also reboots the system and Capitol would now require boar for hire operators to undergo necessary training for biosecurity, as they have the biggest potential for spreading the fatal hog disease, if they do not practice bio-security measures.

This also means boar for hire operators need to register and be accredited with the Office of the Governor.

In the same manner, the governor also issued Executive Order No 58, series of 2024, which now require the accreditation of all hog traders doing business in Bohol.

It has been observed that hog traders cut across various municipal jurisdictions to buy live pigs without disinfecting their motor vehicles or practice biosecurity measures that the government has to step in to protect hapless backyard swine growers.

Consistent with the efforts to curb the spread of the virus, the governor’s accreditation order would ensure that hog traders, or boar for hire operators are equipped to disinfect their livestock transport vehicles, implement bio-security measures in livestock business establishments, stockyards, display areas and farms and ensure compliance of the required ASF laboratory tests.(RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

THIS INFECTION. A new Executive Order is now enforced asking hog traders to be accredited by the Office of the Governor to be assured of proper bio-security training and disinfection, as without equipping them with disinfection and biosecurity measures, they could unfortunately spread ASF with their livestock transport vehicles acting as carriers of the disease. (PIABohol/foto RVO)