Zamboanga City checkpoint versus African swine fever (Photo courtesy of City Hall-PIO) ZAMBOANGA CITY - Additional checkpoints have been established here to prohibit the entry of live hogs, pork products, and by-products, allowing only those with veterinary health certificates. The Office of the City Veterinarian (OCVet) on Saturday was still waiting for the result of the confirmatory tests of three blood samples that tested positive for African swine fever (ASF) at the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RADDL) of the Department of Agriculture in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay. The confirmatory tests were done at RADDL General Santos City as the Ipil laboratory has no equipment to determine if the viral infection is due to ASF, hog cholera, and porcine reproductive respiratory syndrome, which all have similar signs and symptoms. Dr. Arnedo Agbayani, assistant OCVet chief, does not foresee a shortage of meat products since a local shopping mall, which has its own ASF-free farm in K
DRUG CLEARED. The Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug-Clearing declares two more barangays in Zamboanga City following deliberation Monday (April 25, 2022). A total of 17 barangays of Zamboanga City, which has 98 villages, are now drug-free. (Photo courtesy of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 9) ZAMBOANGA CITY - With the recent addition of two "drug-cleared" villages, this city now has a total of 17 barangays declared free from the drug menace by the Regional Oversight Committee on Barangay Drug-Clearing (ROCBDC). "Declared as drug-cleared are the barangays of Cacao and Calabasa," Emerson Margate, the ROCBDC chairperson, said Tuesday. Margate, who is also the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional director, said the two villages were given the "drug-cleared" status following deliberation proceedings on Monday. Barangays Cacao and Calabasa officials, he said, presented their respective anti-illegal drugs campaign to the oversi