Mayor warns of canceling permits of hog, poultry farms

ANGELES CITY — Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan warned over the weekend that poultry and piggery farms here may face closure and cancellation of their business permits if they will be found violating environmental and health safety laws.

Pamintuan issued the warning following the recent protest of the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) that raised environmental and health concerns over the continued operation of some poultry and piggery farms in Angeles City and Porac town.

“We would want to eradicate the problem on the foul smell and the health concerns raised by the concerned groups. As we could see, the people are all up in arms on this issue and we on the part of the City Government will also do our part to ensure that concerns are addressed,” he said.

The mayor who just arrived from his trip from the US said that his administration will not tolerate violators.

Pamintuan said that he earlier organized a meeting with Mayor Oscar Rodriguez of San Fernando City, Mayor Condralito Dela Cruz of Porac, and PGKM leader Perto Cruz to discuss possible solutions on the problem.

The mayor said the environment department’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), along with representatives from the City Government, has conducted surprise inspections on the poultry and hog farms here. Pamintuan said he is waiting for the results of the inspections.

Earlier, the EMB said that it will work on closing piggeries that are non-compliant to the law but admitted it cannot order the closure of poultry farms that have met certain requirements for operation. Instead, the EMB is urging for a multi-tripartite monitoring of the hog farms.

In last week’s press briefing, owners of Greenfield Country Farm, Select Farm, Sta. Cruz Hog Farm, Villa Aida Farm, A-1 Piggery Farm, JC Farm, IO Hog Farm, Y-Ten Livestock Farm, and LTO Piggery Farm said, through their legal counsel, they are compliant to health and sanitation standards. (Ian Ocampo Flora)

Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on September 27, 2010.