ANGELES CITY – “Government needs to assure the people of Porac, as well as adjacent Angeles City, that the piggeries that have long been afflicting them with the stench and causing various ailments are not breeding grounds of the Ebola Reston virus.”
Thus said the broad-based coalition group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) in a statement as it called on authorities to “subject under the most stringent tests all the pigs in Porac piggeries to assure the safety of consumers.”
This came in the aftermath of reports that some 6,000 hogs in Pandi, Bulacan had to be destroyed after they were found infected with the Ebola Reston virus.
The PGKM called on the team of experts from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health that checked on the pigs in Pandi to go to Porac to do the same tests.
Porac’s barangay Sta. Cruz alone hosts five big piggeries: Marson Farm, Select Farm, Greenfield Farm, Logo Farm, and Sta. Cruz Farm, which were earlier the subject of protest actions by citizens and concerned non-government organizations for the foul smell they emitted.
Residents, including special children in a school run by Catholic nuns have complained of skin ailments and respiratory diseases they said was caused by the piggeries.
“Basic science says foul odor is caused by harmful bacteria and germs which thrive under unsanitary conditions. Where these microbes breed, could viruses be far behind?” said PGKM chairman Ruperto Cruz in an interview. “The foul smell from these piggeries is the tell-tale sign that indeed, there is much to be desired in terms of their sanitation.”
Cruz said the PGKM and other allied organizations have asked the intervention of the UN experts and the national government agencies to undertake tests on the Porac piggeries for the Ebola Reston virus “because the concern is far above the competence of local authorities – particularly the Porac local government and its municipal health office.”
“If the mayor, the municipal council and the health officer could not come up with a solution to the problem of foul odor, how much more with the more serious problem of Ebola Reston virus?” Cruz said.
Cruz assailed the Porac authorities for their “total inaction” when it came to the piggeries.
“For the past five years, we have been deploring the stench that envelopes our communities, signing petitions and launching protest actions to no avail. When the Ebola Reston virus case in nearby Bulacan, the Porac government should have immediately taken action to guarantee that the health of their constituents are not in any way compromised. They did nothing,” Cruz lamented. “Are they afraid of the piggeries, or are they prizing the piggeries so much? For what benefits?”
Cruz said his group feared “a clear and present danger obtained at the piggeries.”
While reports said humans infected with the Ebola Reston virus have not shown any disturbing symptoms, Cruz said nobody can say for sure that the virus is totally harmless. “What if it needed a longer gestation period?”
Health Sec. Francisco Duque III earlier said that despite studies, experts have remained baffled on the source of the virus in Bulacan. He added that one of the concerns of the international health experts was the possibility that the virus could mutate into a fatal strain.
“Must we wait for a full-blown epidemic, before our authorities act?” the PGKM asked.
Thus said the broad-based coalition group Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) in a statement as it called on authorities to “subject under the most stringent tests all the pigs in Porac piggeries to assure the safety of consumers.”
This came in the aftermath of reports that some 6,000 hogs in Pandi, Bulacan had to be destroyed after they were found infected with the Ebola Reston virus.
The PGKM called on the team of experts from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the World Organization for Animal Health that checked on the pigs in Pandi to go to Porac to do the same tests.
Porac’s barangay Sta. Cruz alone hosts five big piggeries: Marson Farm, Select Farm, Greenfield Farm, Logo Farm, and Sta. Cruz Farm, which were earlier the subject of protest actions by citizens and concerned non-government organizations for the foul smell they emitted.
Residents, including special children in a school run by Catholic nuns have complained of skin ailments and respiratory diseases they said was caused by the piggeries.
“Basic science says foul odor is caused by harmful bacteria and germs which thrive under unsanitary conditions. Where these microbes breed, could viruses be far behind?” said PGKM chairman Ruperto Cruz in an interview. “The foul smell from these piggeries is the tell-tale sign that indeed, there is much to be desired in terms of their sanitation.”
Cruz said the PGKM and other allied organizations have asked the intervention of the UN experts and the national government agencies to undertake tests on the Porac piggeries for the Ebola Reston virus “because the concern is far above the competence of local authorities – particularly the Porac local government and its municipal health office.”
“If the mayor, the municipal council and the health officer could not come up with a solution to the problem of foul odor, how much more with the more serious problem of Ebola Reston virus?” Cruz said.
Cruz assailed the Porac authorities for their “total inaction” when it came to the piggeries.
“For the past five years, we have been deploring the stench that envelopes our communities, signing petitions and launching protest actions to no avail. When the Ebola Reston virus case in nearby Bulacan, the Porac government should have immediately taken action to guarantee that the health of their constituents are not in any way compromised. They did nothing,” Cruz lamented. “Are they afraid of the piggeries, or are they prizing the piggeries so much? For what benefits?”
Cruz said his group feared “a clear and present danger obtained at the piggeries.”
While reports said humans infected with the Ebola Reston virus have not shown any disturbing symptoms, Cruz said nobody can say for sure that the virus is totally harmless. “What if it needed a longer gestation period?”
Health Sec. Francisco Duque III earlier said that despite studies, experts have remained baffled on the source of the virus in Bulacan. He added that one of the concerns of the international health experts was the possibility that the virus could mutate into a fatal strain.
“Must we wait for a full-blown epidemic, before our authorities act?” the PGKM asked.
