Garcia defends ban on pork from Mindanao

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu provincial government has stood by its 90-day pork ban on Mindanao because of the African Swine Fever’s (ASF) highly-contagious nature.

In a press conference yesterday, February 12, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia defended her position in imposing the three-month ban on all pork, pork-related products, live hogs, boar semen and commingled meat by pointing out the fast pace by which ASF is spreading.

She said that apart from ASF reaching the Davao Region, it continues to spread in Luzon, even as far as Benguet.

The governor went on to elaborate by saying that the Department of Agriculture (DA) Administrative Circular No.12 seemed to only refer to Luzon in terms of the enforcement of zoning and failed to mention the Davao Region that already has had hog deaths due to ASF.

“Mao ni ilang national zoning. Kung national unta ni, ngano wa man nila gi-apil diri ang Visayas ug Mindanao. Unsa man diay ang national, Luzon ra? In that case, I will take them up in their administrative order kay wa man mi maapil ani,” Garcia said.

Administrative Circular No. 12 defines zoning as the “compartmentalization of the different administrative regions in the country based on their common disease status.”

It classifies regions into red zones or the infected zones, yellow zones or the surveillance zones, pink zones or the buffer zones, the light green zones or the protected zones and the dark green zones or the free zones.

In the administrative circular, only Luzon regions are enumerated as red zones. Among these are Region I (Pangasinan), Region III (Nueva Ecija), Region IV-A (Cavite) and Rizal.

Apart from the exclusion of the Davao Region, Garcia also pointed out that the gist of the zoning scheme serves to impose a strict restriction and the regulation of movement of infected meat.

“Asa man dapit nag-ingon dire ang tugtan ang free trade? Asa man dapit nag-ingon dire nga proteheran ang mga dagkong negosyante nga mga apektohan,” she said.

“I will stand by my order,” she added.

Garcia announced earlier this week, February 11, that she will be implementing brand new EOs that imposes a 90-day ban on the pork from the entire Island of Mindanao and another one for the indefinite extension of the pork ban on Luzon, Eastern Visayas and the Davao Region.

Meanwhile, DA Salvador Diputado, in an interview yesterday, reiterated that President Rodrigo Duterte released Administrative Order 22, directing all local government units to comply to the zoning scheme laid down in DA Administrative Circular No. 12.

“The president has administrative control over all government agencies and general supervision over all local government units. So, sa akong pagtuo-- in fact included in the administrative order number 22 is for the DA, the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Governance) to monitor compliance of the DA zoning regulation sa tanang mga LGU sa Pilipinas,” he said.

“Kung atong sundon ang administrative order 22, obligado gyud sila nga mo-comply sa gi-draft sa DA nga zoning and hog movement regulation,” he added.

However, he added that he will only remind the governor of the existing administrative order from the President. He also said that the move to ban the entry of pork from Mindanao is part of Garcia’s police power.  JMD (FREEMAN)