Cebu lechoneros eyes smuggled, cheaper hogs says Cebu City vet

The Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) disclosed yesterday that cheaper prices per kilo of live hogs from Negros Island may have encouraged buyers especially lechoneros, to buy smuggled live hogs.

DVMF chief Dr. Alice Utlang told DAILY TRIBUNE that the prices of live pork in Negros Island ranges from P120-P140 per kilo compared to Cebu's P180 per kilo.

She stressed that most lechoneros (people cooking roasted pigs) in Cebu opt to buy hogs from Negros Island due to their cheaper prices, especially as the holiday season approaches.

She added that supplies of pork meat in Cebu City originate from within the city and Bohol.

Utlang's remarks came after the local police in Dumanjug confiscated almost 100 smuggled and undocumented live pigs last week.

In 2023, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued a temporary ban on live hogs from Negros Oriental to prevent the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the province and protect the local hog industry.

Garcia later lifted the ban and issued Executive Order 7, which imposed strict regulatory requirements that include veterinary health certificates and negative ASF test results for live hogs and pork products on 27 April.

According to Utlang, these requirements have played a part in the smuggling of live hogs.

"That's why it's being snuggled, because they can not be given a shipping permit due to the order imposed by the governor," Utlang said.

EO-7 states that a local shipping permit and livestock transport pass are required for the movement and shipment of live pigs for slaughter and live hogs for breeding; a shipping permit is required for genetic material such as semen; and a transport pass is required for frozen pork products, which include processed, cooked, or canned pork.