The League of Municipalities in the Philippines (LMP) in Cebu and a national pork producers group are standing behind the Cebu Provincial Government’s maverick policies in handling the swine diseases in Cebu Province, including the African Swine Fever (ASF).
During a meeting at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 4, LMP Cebu president and Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura said the municipal mayors are set to issue a unified statement calling out the Bureau of Animal Industry’s protocols in handling the alleged presence of ASF in Cebu Province that include hog culling and color coding of areas.
Shimura said the mayors expressed disappointment at the BAI’s lack of coordination with the LGUs so much so that they even learned of hogs being culled in their municipalities from the constituents and not from BAI officials.
The color coding policy, he said, also impacted the economy of the province negatively since it makes the mobility of pork products from color-coded zone to another harder.
The governor said that there used to be an ample supply of pork in the province prior to BAI’s irresponsible statements tagging Cebu as ASF infected. Now, the pork industry is at the mercy of this agency’s economically disruptive protocols.
“Let us defend local autonomy because the Local Government Code empowers us to protect our constituents who voted for us and made us mayors and governors,” Gov. Garcia said. “So, ang atong responsibilidad nila ato gyod panalipdan.”
Present during the meeting were Borbon Mayor Noel Dotillos; Cordova Mayor Cesar Suan; Medellin Mayor Joven Mondigo Jr.; Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron; Barili Mayor Pablo John Garcia IV; Argao Mayor Allan Sesaldo; and Balamban Mayor Ace Stefan Binghay.
PORK PRODUCERS’ APPEAL TO PBBM
Rolando Tambago, president of the Pork Producers Federation of the Philippines, told the governor that they have already sent a formal communication to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who also sits as concurrent secretary of the Department of Agriculture, to have the BAI review its ineffective protocols and adopt instead the Cebu Protocol espoused by Gov. Garcia.
He said they laud the governor’s courage in trying other means of controlling the swine diseases which the BAI has failed to contain for over four years now.
He said Cebu is among the largest remaining hog-producing province in the country that supports the supply gap in other regions, including Metro Manila, with the local industry estimated at P11 billion.
Based on reports from local farmers in Cebu, Tambago confirmed that there have been no new and unusual spike of swine disease cases in Cebu since Capitol’s new protocol was implemented.
“We believe that if we continue to implement the current (BAI) protocol, we are at a risk of losing the local hog production which would result in a massive supply of shortage and affect inflation on a higher scale,” Tambago said. | Ulrika Wagas