The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday confirmed several pigs in another village in Antipolo, Rizal tested positive for African Swine Fever (ASF).

Speaking with the press in Quezon City, DA Secretary William Dar said stringent quarantine measures have been imposed to prevent further spread of the virus in the village, which he refused to name.

“The depopulation measure within the one-seven-ten protocol where there were observed abnormal deaths of pigs have already been implemented. Those affected and even unaffected pigs have already been culled, burned and buried,” Dar told reporters.

Dar assured they are strengthening its partnership with the Philippine National Policy, its attached agencies and the local government units to mitigate the spread of the disease.

Dar, meanwhile, appealed to piggery owners, particularly backyard hog raisers, not to dump dead pigs in all waterways to prevent the spread of communicable diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria.

“The irresponsible dumping of dead pigs simply adds scare to the public, and this should not be tolerated. The perpetrators must be punished by the law,” he said.

From 9 September, when the DA first confirmed the ASF outbreak in the country, to 23 September, Dar disclosed that about 15,000 have already been depopulated.

“If you look at these figures as compared to the overall population of hogs in the country which is 12.8 million heads, it is only 0.09 percent,” Dar noted.

This latest addition is the second site in the Antipolo area and the 12th nationwide to be infected by the deadly disease.

Affected areas includes Barangays San Jose, Macabud, San Isidro, San Rafael and Mascap in Rodriguez and San Mateo Slaughterhouse and Barangay Cupang in Antipolo, Rizal and Barangay Pritil in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

It was only last week when the DA confirmed Barangay Bagong Silangan and Payatas in Quezon City were also contaminated by the disease.

Meanwhile, based on the World Health Organization for Animal Health (OIE) record, the first ASF outbreak in the country was reported as early as 25 July.

But Dar said the ASF case was only reported to him on the second week of August, a week after he was appointed as new acting DA chief.

“Even as early as May they said there have been observations but I don’t know whether they elevated the preventive measures or control measures. Did you ask the previous administration about that?” Dar asked.

Sought for comments, former Agriculture secretary and now Mindanao Development Authority chief Emmanuel Pinol refused to confirm.

African swine fever causes high fever, loss of appetite, hemorrhages and death among domestic and wild pigs. It does not pose a health threat to humans.

Until today, there is no known cure for the disease.

Despite ASF outbreaks, the Philippines, with its P260 billion swine industry, remains as the world’s eighth-biggest pork producer by volume despite the recent outbreak confirmation.