Agriculture Secretary William Dar said on Thursday the government is strengthening its monitoring on all pork and pork products entering the country, especially those coming from China where a new swine flu with pandemic potential was found.

In the "Laging Handa" virtual press briefing, Dar urged traders not to smuggle those products from China.

"There should be no smuggling of pork and pork products from China, from time to time, there are smuggled items coming in," he said.

"So, we appeal to the businessmen who are importing illegally these pork and pork products especially from China. They (China) already have an epidemic in terms of swine flu. Let us not add to our country's problem," Dar stressed.

The Philippines, like other countries, is facing the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 originated from Wuhan City in China. The local hog industry is also affected by the African swine fever.

"So we have also elevated the quarantine measures in the seaports and port areas, airports," he said.

Dar acknowledged that smuggling of products is the biggest problem of the government. Celerina Monte/DMS