Pampanga town execs heed call against piggery project

Members of the Menelen Sta. Catalina Kontra-Piggery hold a protest against a piggery project in MInalin, Pampanga (PHOTO COURTESY OF MSCKP)

MABALACAT CITY — The Minalin municipal government in Pampanga province has canceled its agreement with a farmers’ group to establish a piggery in the town after villagers opposed the project.

In a letter to the Minalin municipal council on Monday, Mayor Noel Philip Naguit told the local legislators that he had canceled the local government’s usufruct agreement with the Minaleño First Agri-Industrial Livelihood Farmers Association (MFAILFA).

Naguit said the local government was adhering “to the voice and welfare of the people” in its decision to build a Bio-Secured and Climate-Controlled Fisher Operation Facility under the Integrated National Swine Production Initiatives for Recovery and Expansion program of the Department of Agriculture.

Under the agreement, the farmers association was allowed to use a lot in Purok 7 of Santa Catalina village to build a P5.5-million hog farm, which is being opposed by a group of residents who had organized themselves into the Memalen Sta. Catalina Kontra-Piggery.

Initial victory

The villagers’ group has hailed the cancellation of the usufruct as an initial victory, adding that the fight was not yet over. The group is appealing to local legislators to pass an ordinance that would regulate the application and operation of poultry and piggeries in Minalin.

According to the residents of Sta. Catalina, a resolution adopting the mayor’s decision to cancel the agreement and another resolution requesting the mayor to stop the construction of the facility for the repopulation of pigs from 300 sows were already proposed in the local legislative body.

“We thank our local officials, especially Mayor Naguit, Vice Mayor Rondon Mercado and the members of the municipal council for the cancellation of the usufruct agreement and for prioritizing the well-being of their constituents. We also won because we were united and determined in protecting our health, environment and what small properties we have,” a resident said.

The residents opposed the hog farm project because the MFAILFA did not conduct public consultations and because it is located inside the materials recovery facility, where garbage from 15 barangays is segregated.

They said the project is less than 50 meters west of the San Francisco River, a tributary of Manila Bay that has been ordered for cleanup through a Supreme Court’s continuing mandamus, and that the project also violated the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board’s Resolution No. 674, which requires a 1,000-meter distance from a built-up area or residences. INQ

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