Mayor wants piggeries phased out of Porac, Pampanga

ANGELES CITY, Philippines - Porac Mayor Rogelio L. Santos urged hog raisers in his town to start looking for other businesses and eventually convert their piggery farms to other uses for sanitary reasons, particularly the odor they give off. "I admit that you are contributing to the municipal coffer with the taxes that you have been remitting, but I can not gamble the health of my people," Santos said at a meeting last week with hog raisers from Barangay Sta. Cruz at the Shanghai Restaurant. "I suggest that you should convert your piggeries to housing projects, in that way, we can have a harmonious relationship." The hog raisers belong to Logo Farms, Sta. Cruz Farm, Marcon, Select, and Greenfield Hogs. They presented plans to upgrade the sanitation of their piggeries, but Santos was not completely convinced that these plans would work. The hog raisers, led by Rey Bautista, appealed to Santos to broker a meeting with the Koalisyon Kontra Amoy (KKA), which has been clamoring to get their farms closed. KKA is also preparing to file a class suit against Sta. Cruz Barangay Chairman Merlito Bengco and other barangay officials. Over the weekend, the KKA, along with the Pinoy Gumising Ka (PGKM) and the Advocacy for the Development of Central Luzon (ADCL), launched a signature campaign petitioning to totally close all piggeries. Santos advised the operators to look for an alternative income if they would not comply with the sanitation requirements set by the municipal health office and as agreed during the previous meetings to minimize the odor from their farms. Like the mayor, Rogie Pangilinan, chairman of the Porac Good Government League (PGGL), was not impressed with the presentation given by piggery owners. He said that their promises were made to be broken. "Piggeries serve as hindrance to the development of the municipality, thus we need to address this problem in the soonest possible time," Pangilinan stressed. Pangilinan said the Municipal Council of Porac should revise the resolution that was approved by the previous administration and draft a plan to relocate their businesses. "There was a zoning ordinance inked before which will serve as a guide for the relocation," he said. "PGGL will work hand-in-hand with the Office of the Municipal Mayor in finding a permanent solution to the problem." In the meantime, anti-pollution devices should be installed in the farms to completely remove the odor, Pangilinan said. - GMANews.TV