Pangasinan gov orders provincial board: Probe ASF vax farm trials

By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- Vice Gov. Mark Ronald Lambino on Monday, August 7, ordered the provincial board to conduct an inquiry into reports that farm trials on Asian swine fever (ASF) vaccines are now being conducted in Pangasinan province.
    "We are not aware of that testing that unofficial reports say this was being done by the Department of Agriculture, and we have to verify this," said Lambino.
    "I have requested Board Member (Nicholi Jan Louie) Sison to immediately conduct an inquiry on this alleged testing of an ASF live virus in Pangasinan. Our primary concern here is the biosecurity protocols of the province," he added.
    Sison said that Rosendo So, chairman of the Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, wrote the provincial board "out of his concern on the safety of the pork that we are going to consume here because we do not know yet what will be its effects."
    "We are currently regulating the entry of piggery, poultry, and other livestock entities in the province and we have imposed a temporary ban on pork, poultry and other livestock from ASF affected areas," said Sison, provincial board committee on agriculture chairman.
    At present, Pangasinan has no reported cases of ASF and the temporary total ban is necessary to prevent the virus from entering the province.

Lambino also said that it was So who wrote to him about the farm trials.

In his letter, So said that the trials supposedly started last June and will end in September.

There was no mention of specific places in Pangasinan where the vaccine trials are being conducted.