All 72 sentinel piglets dispersed to selected farmers in the municipality of Oton in Iloilo have survived, according to the Provincial Veterinarian’s Office.
Provincial veterinarian Dr. Darel Tabuada said the recipient farmers are waiting for the remaining piglets to be delivered by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Under the sentinelling program, farmers in selected barangays, once affected by African swine fever (ASF) and have passed the prequalification process, are entitled to three piglets.
The remaining piglets will be released once the first sentinel animal survives.
“Our sentinel animals graduated in November (2024). It means they were not infected by ASF,” Tabuada said in an interview.
In addition to the DA sentinel program, the province also has its own similar initiative as part of herd buildup. The provincial government has downloaded funds to purchase sentinel animals to 13 municipalities.
Tabuada said the municipalities of Barotac Viejo and Sta. Barbara completed the program while procurement for the rest of the target local government units (LGUs) is ongoing.
“Our sentineling is an upgrading from pink (buffer zone) to yellow. We are waiting for the new guidelines from the Department of Agriculture because they will have new guidelines on zoning,” he said.
Currently, 17 of the 23 affected LGUs in the province have upgraded to pink while the rest are still in red.
Tabuada said the upgrading is a matter of documenting what is being done in the field and surveillance, with the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (DA-BAI) in charge of upgrades.
There will be no upgrade, he added, if the DA-BAI is not convinced with the documents submitted by the LGU.PNA
