Borongan declares state of calamity amid ASF outbreak

TACLOBAN CITY – Eastern Samar’s provincial capital, Borongan City, is placed under a state of calamity due to an ongoing outbreak of African Swine Fever.

The city council approved a resolution declaring a state of calamity last 14 May. The declaration, which was only announced on 26 May, was made based on the recommendation of the city disaster risk reduction and management council.

The council said the highly-contagious swine is spreading at an alarming rate with 12 barangays already infected with 34 hog raisers affected. There are also undocumented cases of swine death that are still being investigated.

To recall, Borongan City Mayor Dayan Agda declared a two-week pork holiday last April 4-18 in an effort to control the viral spread after a piggery farm owned by Eastern Samar State University was found positive f the ASF virus.

Within the pork holiday period, slaughtering of pig within the city was prohibited unless for personal consumption as well as selling of lechon and fresh pork.

With the state of calamity declared in force, the CDRRMC is allowed to use the 30 percent quick response fund (QRF) sourced from the CDRRM Fund to help the affected hog raisers.