The Province of Negros Oriental is the first local government unit (LGU) to respond to Gov. Gwen Garcia’s call for all local chief executives to unite against the economically disruptive policies of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) in the handling of the African Swine Fever (ASF).
Both provinces also agreed to come up with a common bio-security measure and protocols that will help protect their respective hog industry with the signing of a memorandum of agreement sometime next week.
Gov. Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria said he fully supports the initiative of the Capitol in light of Gov’ Garcia’s expose on BAI’s hidden agenda over its insistence to impose its culling and color-coding policies in addressing the ASF threat.
“Yes, she has opened my eyes and mind that there’s something going on aside from this system (color-coding, culling policies),” Sagarbarria told local media in a press conference on Thursday, June 29 at the Capitol.
The newly-minted governor is the first local chief executive who responded to Gov. Gwen’s call issued earlier this month calling for all governors and mayors in the country to join forces and unite against the economically disruptive policies of the BAI in handling swine diseases such as the ASF and hog cholera.
Last June 8, Gov. Gwen made the call after receiving reports that hogs in Camotes are no longer welcome in neighboring Leyte and Samar after the BAI declared Cebu province as ASF-infected red zone.
As a result, local hog growers who are mostly backyard hog raisers, are facing uncertainty in earning a living or recovering from their expenses.
Sagarbarria said Negros Oriental is not spared as their local hog growers are now experiencing a drop in the live weight of hogs at the farm gate from P140 to 150 per kilo to P85 to P90 per kilo.
Cebu, he said, is Negros Oriental’s biggest market for its live hogs.
“Most of our supply goes to Cebu, gets processed as chorizo, bacon and other products, goes back to Negros. There is a cycle,” Gov. Sagarbarria said. “When you cut that cycle off, mao na’ng nibarato diri, nimahal sa Cebu, P300 per kilo sa Cebu, but P90 lang sa Negros. Disrupted gyud siya, and everybody is suffering for it,” he added.
Sagarbarria assured that his team will immediately sit down with Cebu Province’s local counterpart in the crafting of the MOA that will guarantee that these biosecurity measures will not only protect both provinces’ hog industry but also the farmers.
“Once we are effective, we can show to other provinces, kopyaha mi because we are doing well,” he said while admitting that this is a “risk” but worth doing because the protocols both LGUs have implemented has been proven effective.
It was learned that Negros Oriental implements a similar protocol in addressing the threat through testing and isolation before deciding to kill pigs. Sagarbarria said they do not follow the culling policy of the BAI but instead learned from Capitol’s protocol of conducting test first if a pig has shown symptoms of infection.
Gov. Garcia welcomed Gov. Sagarbarria’s move even as she reminded other local chief executives to always uphold local autonomy in the face of policies and protocols that bring affliction to the lives and livelihoods of the people.
“Ang ato rang mga taw ang mag-antos. Ang BAI, nameless, faceless, unelected and probably unelectable, pero maoy nakapa-antos sa atong mga katawhan nga maoy nipili nato,” Gov. Garcia told the media. “Dako kaayo tag responsibilidad aning mga taw nga nag-antos,” she added.
The meeting between the officials marked the first time Gov. Sagarbarria visited the Cebu Provincial Capitol just 29 days after assuming Negros Oriental’s top position.
By rule of succession, he finds himself at the helm of the Negros Oriental Capitol after the demise of Gov. Roel R. Degamo (assassinated on March 4, 2023) and Gov. Carlo Jorge Joan Reyes, who died of natural causes on May 31, 2023. | with IPA