All over Mindanao DILG, POLICE SUPPORT SOUGHT TO ENFORCE ASF QUARANTINE

Davao City – The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) has asked for the deployment of policemen to help local government units enforce the ban on the shipment of live hogs, pork and pork products as Mindanao strengthens its Quarantine Measures against the African Swine Fever.

The move to engage policemen in enforcing the ban came following reports that the ASF which was earlier reported in Rizal and Bulacan Province had spread to Pangasinan because of meat traders who continued to ply their trade in spite of the outbreak.

In a letter addressed to the Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, MinDA Chairman, Sec. Manny Piñol, the involvement of policemen will ensure stricter implementation of the ASF Quarantine Protocols.

He said policemen and army units were also engaged during the Avian Influenza outbreak in Pampanga and Nueva Ecija in 2017.

The involvement of policemen and army soldiers helped government in preventing the spread of AI which was placed under control in just one month.

Earlier, Mindanao local government executives led by Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte-Carpio issued an executive order enforcing a temporary ban on the shipment of live hogs, pork and other processed pork products.

The lack of manpower, however, led several LGU Executives to ask for police support in manning quarantine check points.

Mindanao and the Visayas have remained ASF free because of the vigilance and involvement of local government executives and the hog industry stakeholders.

Earlier, the Mindanao Hog Raisers groups issued a manifesto supporting the move of Mindanao local government units to ban the entry of hogs, pork and processed pork products and the practice of feeding backyard hogs with food wastes or swill feeding.

#MindanaoStandsUnited!