Cebuano vet alarmed over ‘smuggled’ hogs for lechon

The Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) disclosed on Sunday 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 range from P120-P140 per kilo, compared to Cebu’s P180 per kilo.

She stressed that most lechoneros in Cebu opt to buy hogs from Negros Island due to their cheaper price, especially as the holiday season approaches.

Cebu City’s pork meat supply comes from within the city and Bohol.

Utlang’s reaction came after local police in Dumanjug confiscated nearly 100 smuggled, 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 then lifted the ban and issued Executive Order 7, placing 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 played a part in the smuggling of live hogs.

“That’s why they’re being smuggled, as they can’t be given a shipping permit due to the governor’s order,” Utlang said.

EO-7 mandates 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.