BAI's move came after laboratory tests revealed that at least 6,000 hogs from 19 pig farms in the province were found to have been infected with at least one of the three diseases. The agency clarified that despite the findings, there was still no outbreak of such ailments in the area.

GMA News reported Tuesday that the team will also inspect backyard pig farms in five municipalities in the province for possible infection with hog cholera, swine influenza, and more recently, the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).

PRRS is caused by a virus that makes reproduction for pigs difficult. The disease attacks the respiratory tract of young swine.

Local hog raisers, however, contested the agency's claim and said that 10 municipalities, and not five, have already been affected by the diseases.

Some 507 pigs have already succumbed to the ailments, but BAI officer-in-charge Davinio Catbagan maintained that the agency had the infection "contained."

The health official added that there is no cause for alarm since the number of fatalities account for less than a percent of the total hog population in the province, which is about 100,000.