Environment bureau affirms study on pig farms

Porac residents vow to file class suit against piggery owners of Barangay Santa Cruz, Manibaug Paralaya

ANGELES CITY: The Environment and Management Bureau (EMB) has affirmed the studies on Porac piggeries made by the Pinoy Gumising ka Movement (PGKM) that establishes its alleged “adverse effects” on humans.

“The study you furnished this office contains literature discussing the adverse effects of pig waste on human health if not properly mitigated and managed,” EMB Regional Director Engr. Carlos Magno said in his letter to Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement Chairman Ruperto Cruz.

Magno said “we do not dispute anything in the study and we interpose no objection to you in using the said study for any legal purpose it may serve.”

The PGKM, Kruzada Kontra Amoy (KKA) and other Porac residents vowed to file a class suit against owners of piggeries in Barangays Santa Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya should they persist in “polluting the environment and causing danger to the very lives of the residents.”

Magno added that “going over the study we found that the same was conducted in Majayjay, Laguna. The study points out that with the decentralization of government, the greater responsibility of monitoring compliance and environment quality now lies on the local government.”

The Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement earlier gave the environment bureau a copy of the study entitled “Backyard and Commercial Piggeries in the Philippines: Environment Consequences and Pollution Control Options.”

The study said it “found that people living near hog farms suffered from significantly higher levels of upper respiratory and gastro­intestinal ailments than those living near cattle farms or in non-livestock farming community. Furthermore, well water testing results showed higher levels of nitrates in wells near hog farms posing risks to infants below 6 months old.”

It also said that “Those people who were also living near hog farms suffered from headaches, runny noses, sore throats, excessive coughing, diarrhea and burning eyes,” adding that “high levels of nitrogen [released by pig waste] in drinking water increase the risk of methemo­globinemia or, more commonly known as the blue baby syndrome.”

“With a competent and responsible head at the Environment and Management Bureau, the sufferings of people and businesses from harmful foul smell emitted by piggeries may find a definitive solution,” Cruz said.

Catholic nuns running a school for special children in Barangay Sinura have complained to the Environmental Management Bureau of the “high incidence of respiratory ailments” among their wards and the reported “increase in birth defects and miscarriages” in the area.

The same study also cited the adverse effects of piggeries on nearby businesses.

“The stench from uncontrolled, ill-disposed and untreated hog waste has been found to depress the real estate values of properties near hog farms,” it said.

Cruz earlier assailed Mayor Roger Santos of Porac for his lack of political will to stop the operation of at least 10 piggeries in the two villages.

He also assailed local and barangay officials, and even President Gloria Arroyo and her son, Pampanga Second District Rep. Mikey Arroyo for “doing nothing about the stench problem in Porac.” –Joey Aguilar, Correspondent, Manila Times