Blasting the ASF awareness jingle and the mascot Super Pig through the streets of San Fernando City at 7:30 this April 23, 2025, the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Industry ensured the involvement of the public in the African Swine Fever (ASF) Information Caravan by handing out information, education, and communication (IEC) materials as well as ASF-related merchandise with the catchphrase, “May magagawa ako.”
The ASF Information Caravan proceeded at the City Hall, inviting some 50 participants comprised of hog raisers, meat vendors, traders, farmers cooperative and association (FCA) members, and representatives of the regional and provincial veterinary offices, the Local Government Unit (LGU), the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC), and the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 1 (DA RFO1).
Different presentations regarding hog raising, hog health, ASF, and insurance were held by various resource speakers. This includes new preventive measures, ordinances, and the latest programs that are implemented to help hog raisers in their agriventures. Moreover, national, regional, and provincial updates on the current status of ASF were presented, highlighting some problems that need to be addressed, including the hesitance of farmers to report ASF cases within their backyards.
It is rest assured that agencies such as the Veterinary Offices, the DA, and the BAI are assisting hog raisers in preventing ASF from ever reaching massive scales once more through carefully studied depopulation activities, strengthening of border securities and checkpoints, and indemnification distributions. However, even with these campaigns, the agencies still urge the public to act more and not feel helpless once ASF strikes again, hence the catchphrase, “May magagawa ako.”
The Info Caravan serves to inform the public of much-needed precautions and courses of action in the cases of ASF, educating hog raisers and vendors alike in biosecurity measures and insurances, in hopes that one day, the Ilocos Region, along with the rest of the Philippines, will reach self-sufficiency in hogs.
As voiced by Dr. Domingo Bobby Calub III, Provincial Veterinarian of La Union, “We will reach the self-sufficiency level of food from hogs… Darating ang araw na ‘di na tayo bibli ng baboy sa labas. We will be self-sufficient.” And through info caravans such as this one and the active participation of the public, especially those involved in hog raising, we will reach the goal of self-sufficiency in the hog industry.
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