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ASF ALERT. Workers from the General Santos City Veterinary Office load swine into trucks in Barangay Apopong and areas within the 500-meter radius for culling at the sanitary landfill of the city on Jan. 25, 2022. Between January 25 and 27, a total of 508 hogs have been culled from the ASF-affected area. (Photo by Richelyn Gubalani.) GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The City Veterinary Office (CVO) confirmed on Thursday one positive case of African swine fever (ASF) in a village here. Dr. Antonio Ephraim Marin, the CVO chief, said the case came from Purok San Lorenzo, Barangay Apopong after several years of zero ASF cases in the city. On January 24, Marin said the Department of Agriculture (DA) satellite laboratory in Barangay Lagao called him up to confirm the case. "The finding was based on the laboratory test result in a blood sample taken from a backyard swine raiser in the village," he said. Veterinary authorities here are in a frantic move to prevent the spread of the ASF that could affect backyard swine raisers. The panic began on January 12 after residents in Purok San Lorenzo, Barangay Apopong were alarmed by the deaths of several hogs that started from the backyard of Franco Magway, a buy-and-sell hog dealer. Reports said since Tuesday, a total of 508 hogs have been culled from the affected area. The city has been strictly imposing a policy prohibiting the entry of live swine and processed products containing pork. The city maintains an PHP8-billion hog industry, the third-largest in the country with more than 5,000 workers relying on it for income. The province of South Cotabato and the city have been categorized under the "dark green" zone or among the areas in the country that remain free from ASF. The area is among the top producers of live hogs in the country, shipping out at least 15,000 heads every two weeks to Metro Manila and Luzon. The South Cotabato Swine Producers Association, the biggest group of commercial swine farms in the area, has a combined sow population of 55,000 and produces more than 45,000 heads of hogs a month. About 10 percent of the group's production is consumed in Soccsksargen and supplies the 90-percent surplus to markets in Luzon and the Visayas. (PNA) }