Agriculture Secretary William Dar appealed to hog traders to stop transporting and selling animals or meat affected by African swine fever (ASF), noting that all old and new cases have one cause.

He blamed the use of food waste as animal feed for the spread of the virus.

“Yung mga food waste na pinapakain sa mga baboy ay galing dun sa apektado na kinain pa rin (Those food wastes being fed to the pigs came from those affected),” Dar said, citing the case of swine owners in San Marcelino, Davao Occidental.

“Nung Disyembre ay umuwi sila. One theory, nagdala po ng mga karne-karne at doon nag-umpisa (Last December, they went home. One theory, they brought home pork and pork products and that is where it started),” he said.

This instance, he said, was the same as what happened in Pangasinan.

“Galing sa ibang probinsiya whether nagbigay ng hogs o nagkatay ng hogs at ibinenta yung karne sa Pangasinan. Ganundin sa Benguet, ganun din sa Tabuk, sa Isabela, doon sa Camarines Sur (Coming from other provinces, whether the hogs were given or slaughtered and sold the meat in Pangasinan. So as in Benguet, Tabuk, Isabela and in Camarines Sur),” he said.

“Ang problema ngayon ay yung mga hog traders na nagbebenta ng mga apektadong baboy (The problem now is the hog traders selling ASF-infected hogs),” he said.

Dar maintained that the national government has been allocating funds to help affected raisers.

This year, he said, the quick response fund was increased from PHP1 billion to PHP1.5 billion.

“Pero ang aming, again, panawagan ay masusugpo po natin ito. Lahat sana tayo ay Pilipino lahat makipagtulungan na. Huwag na nating ibenta yng may sakit na na baboy. Huwag na nating katayin yung may sakit na na baboy at ibenta pa yung karne (But for us, again, our call is we can curb this. All of us as Filipinos should cooperate. Let us not sell those infected hogs. Let us not slaughter those sick pigs and sell the meat),” he added. (PNA)