Cebu governor threatens legal action against officials for hog culling, color-coding scheme

CEBU, Philippines – Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia warned on Tuesday, March 21, that she would take legal action against government officials who implement culling and color-coding of African Swine Fever-marked areas in the province.

Garcia’s threat came as she met mayors of towns and a city where the Department of Agriculture (DA) – Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) has detected African Swine Fever (ASF).

Garcia signed Executive Order No. 10-2023 on March 21, lifting all ASF border control measures in towns and component cities. The EO also nullifies the DA’s color-coding scheme.

Aside from independently administered Cebu City, the municipalities of Liloan, Sibonga, Tuburan, and Bogo City also have ASF cases.

Garcia followed up the threat on March 22 with Memorandum No. 8-2023, which limits the conduct of ASF testing to properly trained municipal or city agriculturists or veterinarians.

The BAI in a statement said they have been implementing hog culling through the National ASF Prevention and Control Program (NASFPCP). The DA has also applied a color-coding scheme to identify areas in the province affected by ASF.

“The depopulation policy is recognized worldwide as the most logical and tested means to contain the virus in the affected area,” said their statement

The agency acknowledged the national policy represents a burden for Cebu’s hog raisers. 

Cebu has a P11-billion hog-raising industry, one of the biggest in the Visayas.

“Sa ilang gipagawas nga statement nga ipatigbabaw gihapon nila ang national policy, unya muinsister nga gawas sa pag color-coding, patay gihapon og baboy (In the statement they released, they said they would still uphold the national policy, and they insisted on the color-coding, and hog culling) within 500 meters when I have already expressed that there would be no more culling, then I shall institute administrative charges and judicial action,” she said.

The governor directed the police to defend the hogs in the province “from measures implemented by the BAI”.

‘Our Own Policies’

Garcia argued that even if it was the national policy, local governments have powers under in Republic Act 7160, also known as the Local Government Code of the Philippines

The governor said that they would craft their own policies to address the ASF crisis without jeopardizing the local hog industry.

Central Visayas DA Chief Angel Enriquez, Department of Health in Central Visayas Regional Director Jaime Bernadas, and Department of the Interior and Local Government Central Visayas Head Leocadio Trovela earlier expressed support for the governor’s course of action.

EO 10-2023 mandates the formation of Barangay Swine Fever Task Forces across the province. These bodies will monitor and report ASF cases to municipal or city veterinarians.

The EO also includes penalties for swill feeding. It establishes an isolation facility for ASF-suspected hogs, and mandatory disinfection of pig pens, slaughterhouses, and vehicles used for transporting pigs.

On March 22, Garcia issued Memorandum No. 8-2023, which limits the conduct of ASF testing to properly trained municipal or city agriculturists or veterinarians.

–Rappler.com