By Peter A. Canggat Jr.
The Human Side of Disease Control
In the steep peaks of the Cordillera Mountains, the battle against a devastating animal disease is being waged with active listening, mutual respect, and community solidarity.
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a devastating transboundary animal disease that threatens global swine production, food systems, and livelihoods. Although it is non-zoonotic (does not infect humans), ASF is contagious among domestic and wild pigs. Its arrival in backyard farming communities triggers a socio-economic crisis, wiping out years of labor and investment, placing emotional strain on affected families.
On the frontlines in Benguet, Philippines, veterinary public service has taken on a deeper meaning. We have come to understand that technical guidelines, laboratory diagnostics, and regulatory protocols are only as strong as the community trust that supports them. Effective containment requires scientific knowledge, timely intervention, empathy, effective communication, and solidarity with the people whose livelihoods are at stake.
The Steep Slopes of the Cordilleras
In Benguet, geography itself is both a challenge and a defining factor in disease control. The province’s agricultural landscape is characterized by dispersed upland settlements, deep valleys, steep mountain slopes, and narrow, winding roads.
When a suspected case of ASF is reported, whether through a mobile call from a farmer or a report from a local barangay official, every hour matters. Early detection, rapid investigation, and timely containment can mean the difference between a localized incident and wider community transmission.
Yet reaching remote farms is a constant logistical challenge. A farm that appears relatively close on a map may take hours to reach because of rugged terrain, difficult roads, weather conditions, or limited transportation access.
Geographic isolation, however, cannot become an excuse for delayed action.
Veterinary teams must travel long distances and work under challenging conditions to investigate suspected cases, collect samples, assess biosecurity, trace contacts, and identify possible epidemiological links. This reality makes purely top-down approaches insufficient. Disease response must be decentralized, collaborative, and rooted in the support and participation of communities.
When Livestock Metrics Have Human Faces
Official veterinary reports describe outbreaks through numbers: affected premises, animals monitored, samples collected, movements restricted, and other disease-control activities.
But in the backyard farms of Benguet, every number has a name, a family, and a personal story.
For many backyard raisers, pigs function as living savings accounts. In communities where financial resources may be limited, livestock represents a labor-intensive investment that can be converted into income when the family needs it most. A pig may be raised to finance a child’s education, cover medical expenses, purchase agricultural inputs, or provide emergency household income.
When ASF enters a small farm, economic loss can become emotional trauma.
Mrs. Rebecca S. Dagdag, a hog raiser with more than 15 years of experience, expressed the emotional and financial impact of losing her livestock, stating, “Palalo mu mapeste di taraken, umipauga mansakit si rikna, sayang di buay ya pilak,” which conveys that losing the animals she had raised was painful, because it also meant losing the money she had worked hard to earn.
For families with limited resources, losing even a small number of animals can be devastating. The impact is the loss of plans, security, and opportunities associated with those animals.
When government protocols require quarantine, movement restrictions, or depopulation, veterinary personnel may have to deliver information that affects a household’s future.
Explaining to a family that its animals must be removed to protect the wider agricultural community is one of the most difficult responsibilities in outbreak response. Such situations require technical firmness balanced with compassion, transparency, and respect.
Disease control must protect the wider population while recognizing the dignity of both animals and the people who care for them.
Mortality of mother pig and her suckling piglet observed in a backyard farm in Banengbeng, Sablan during the ASF outbreak.
Active Listening: Dialogue over Force
One of the important tools in managing an animal-health crisis is not disinfectant, laboratory equipment, or protective clothing. It is the ability to communicate with empathy.
When veterinary teams arrive at an affected farm, they may encounter fear, anger, frustration, confusion, or skepticism. Farmers may worry about losing their livelihoods. They may have encountered conflicting information through neighbors or social media. Some may hesitate to report sick animals because they fear economic consequences.
In these emotional situations, regulatory authority and technical language alone may not be enough. We must listen first. Active listening means creating a respectful environment in which difficult decisions can be explained transparently. However, it does not mean abandoning disease-control protocols.
A farmer who feels heard is likely to cooperate with movement restrictions and other disease-control measures. A family that understands why an intervention is necessary is likely to work with veterinary authorities. A community that receives credible information is better equipped to recognize misinformation and avoid practices that could contribute to disease spread.
Compassion does not weaken containment. But it can make containment possible. Trust is built during difficult conversations. These moments can transform a confrontational encounter into a cooperative effort to protect animals, livelihoods, and the community.
ASF responders demonstrating attentive and responsive engagement with the concerns and experiences shared by community hog raisers in Loacan, Itogon, Benguet.
Biosecurity as an Act of Collective Care
For long-term protection against ASF, biosecurity cannot remain a sterile concept confined to academic discussions, technical manuals, or government posters.
It must become a shared daily practice.
Effective biosecurity includes cleaning, disinfection, controlled animal and vehicle movement, limiting unnecessary farm visitors, avoiding risky feeding practices, monitoring animal health, maintaining farm hygiene, and promptly reporting unusual illness or mortality.
These actions may appear simple, but when practiced consistently, they become powerful barriers against disease transmission.
Veterinarians have an important responsibility to translate technical biosecurity standards into practical measures that farmers can realistically apply.
Rather than simply issuing mandates, we must explain the reason behind them.
Farmers need to understand that biosecurity is both a government requirement and an investment in protecting their own animals, livelihoods, and their neighbours’ farms. Biosecurity, then, becomes an act of collective care.
ASF Response: Biosecurity and Disinfection Measures Implemented at a Community Hog Farm During the African swine fever in Barangay Shilan, La Trinidad, Benguet.
The Community behind the Farm Gate
Disease containment does not end at the boundary of an affected farm.
No veterinarian can control an outbreak alone.
Effective response requires partnerships among farmers, animal owners, barangay leaders, agricultural workers, transport personnel, local government units, veterinary authorities, laboratories, and other relevant agencies.
Each group contributes knowledge and resources that strengthen the overall response.
Farmers possess important local knowledge about animal movements and community practices. Barangay officials understand the social structure of their communities. Agricultural workers know farming conditions. Veterinarians contribute epidemiological knowledge, clinical expertise, and disease-control guidance.
During the ASF outbreak on August 21, 2026, in Loacan, Itogon, Benguet, Barangay Chair M. Almosa emphasized the importance of collective action among community hog raisers, barangay officials, and veterinarians from the municipal and provincial levels. He appealed, “Agtitinulong tayo amen iti agtartaraken, iti opisyales ti barangay ken dagiti beterinaryo nga nagapu municipyo ken probinsya tapnu mapasardeng daytoy nga epekto ti peste,” which means, “Let us all work together; the pig raisers, barangay officials, and veterinarians from the municipality and province, to prevent and stop the effects of this disease.”
When these forms of knowledge are combined, the response becomes precise and resilient.
Community participation is therefore a foundational component of ASF control.
One Health and the Meaning of Service
The struggle against ASF in Benguet demonstrates the principles of One Health. The health of animals is connected to human well-being, household livelihoods, food security, economic stability, and community resilience.
Protecting livestock is therefore also an act of protecting people.
When animal production is disrupted, families can lose income. When agricultural livelihoods are threatened, community resilience can decline. When disease spreads unchecked, local food systems and economic activities can be affected.
Veterinary public service consequently extends beyond the treatment of individual animals. It becomes part of a larger effort to protect agricultural communities and strengthen their capacity to withstand disease threats.
The Physical and Emotional Weight of Fieldwork
ASF response carries a physical and emotional burden.
It means spending long hours traveling along steep mountain roads, walking through muddy fields, carrying equipment, collecting samples, implementing biosecurity measures, and communicating with worried farmers.
It means making important decisions in circumstances where information may be incomplete and where the consequences of those decisions can be substantial.
And sometimes, it means experiencing the profound silence of a farm after animals have been removed.
These experiences are difficult, but they also reveal the deeper meaning of veterinary public service.
The true measure of the work is often found in quiet victories that never make the news.
A disease transmission event prevented is a victory. A farmer who adopts biosecurity practices is a victory. An early report that allows veterinary authorities to intervene before a disease spread is a victory. A community that chooses cooperation over fear is a victory. These achievements may not always appear in statistics, but they represent meaningful progress.
The Power of Showing Up
Ultimately, public service is defined by commitment. It is the choice to answer when the phone rings. It is the decision to travel when the road is difficult. It is the willingness to enter a community when people are afraid. It is the patience to listen when emotions are high. It is the courage to communicate difficult decisions honestly. And it is the determination to continue working even when the results are not immediately visible.
For Benguet veterinarians, showing up means standing beside farming communities during some of their most difficult moments. It means protecting animals while recognizing the human lives connected to them. It means applying science without losing compassion. It means enforcing measures without forgetting dignity. It means understanding that disease control is about stopping a virus and protecting livelihoods, preserving trust, and strengthening communities.
A veterinarian demonstrates compassion and solidarity in the field, underscoring the human commitment behind efforts to prevent and control African swine fever.
A Commitment to Benguet
The fight against ASF requires regulations, surveillance systems, laboratory diagnostics, and biosecurity protocols. It encourages people working together. It requires farmers willing to report unusual disease. It entails communities willing to adopt preventive practices. It obliges LGUs willing to support rapid response. It necessitates veterinarians work under difficult conditions. And above all, it calls for trust.
In Benguet, where every road has its challenges and every farming community has its own story, the human face of biosecurity becomes important. Disease containment is a shared responsibility.
When science is combined with empathy, regulation is accompanied by respect, and veterinary expertise is strengthened by solidarity, disease-control efforts become effective and sustainable.
The fight against ASF is a commitment to protect farmers, safeguard livelihoods, uphold animal welfare, strengthen food security, and build resilient communities.
And on every difficult road, at every farm gate, and in every conversation with a worried farmer, the responsibility remains the same:
Listen with empathy. Serve with dedication. Act with science. Stand with the community.
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Ethical and Confidentiality Statement
The observations, professional experiences, field activities, and personal reflections presented in this article are drawn from veterinary public-service work conducted during the response to African Swine Fever (ASF) in Benguet. Details concerning specific farm locations, animal owners, diagnostic findings, case numbers, and other potentially identifying information are disclosed only where appropriate authorization, informed consent, and relevant government confidentiality and reporting requirements have been observed.
The disease-control activities described herein were carried out within the framework of applicable national and local veterinary regulations and established official ASF response protocols. This article aims to document the human dimension of veterinary public service while upholding the privacy, dignity, and welfare of affected farmers and animals.
About the Author:
Peter A. Canggat Jr. A veterinarian serving with Benguet’s Provincial Local Government Unit (PLGU). His work spans veterinary public health, animal disease surveillance and control, livestock and poultry health, farmer assistance, animal welfare, and community-based veterinary services. With a Master’s degree in Public Administration and through fieldwork and public service, he promotes science-based veterinary practice, responsible animal ownership, biosecurity, and sustainable and resilient livestock-raising.
Photo Credit: Peter A. Canggat Jr.
