Backhoe equipment burying hundreds of pigs dumped at the Tarlac River in Gerona, Tarlac.
PANIC? Residents of Brgy. Pinasling, Gerona, (adjacent to Brgy Malayep) butcher their backyard pigs before govt. men come and kill them by electrocution.
Gerona, Tarlac – Maling-maling paraan.
This was among the comments when around 500 pigs culled were buried in Tarlac River in Barangay Malayep here.
All backyard hogs in Brgy. Malayep were killed yesterday using improvised “electrocuting” gadget and were dumped in the Tarlac River bed.
The Culling, or killing animals to prevent the spread of a disease, was supervised by the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian (OPV) headed by Ma. Lorna Baculanta.
Baculanta, however, refused to give details of their culling activities in the province.
She, however, admitted earlier (January 11) that culling was conducted in several barangays in Victoria town.
Protocol 1-7-10 of the Department of Agricultural requires that all hogs being raised within a 1-kilometer radius from a confirmed site of an ASF infected hog are to be killed.
“Imbes na i-prevent ang pagkalat ng ASF, sa pagbaon nila sa ilog (Tarlac River) ng mga pinatay na baboy, lalong lamang itong kakalat sa ibang mga bayan papunta sa karagatan sa Pangasinan”, said Jimmy Ocampo.
The Tarlac River is the main water tributary of the province which ends up into the open sea in Pangasinan Province. It flows up north thru Paniqui, Moncada and San Manuel towns of Tarlac.
“Maling-mali ang ginawang disposal sa mga ASF infected pigs. May standard o proper procedure sa pag-dispose ng mga hayop na may sakit. Hindi dapat maka-contaminate ang mga bodies of water gaya ng mga ilog”, said another resident who requested his name withheld.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Yamson whose 13 pigs in his backyard were among those killed by the OPV team said, “animal cruelty ang ginawa nilang pagpatay sa mga baboy ko, kuryente ang pinampatay. Dagdag pa, pinagpapatay ang aking mga alaga na wala man lang compensation kundi pangako lamang na babayaran daw nila”.
It was announced publicly in Barangay Malayep that media people are barred from covering the killing of hogs as per order of Governor Susan Yap-Sulit.
Mayor Eloy Eclar is unavailable for comment as he is in Switzerland for an official business /Nelson Bolos