In letters to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, the Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) said that the discovery of the Ebola Reston virus in pigs in Pandi Bulacan has “raised grave concerns among the people of Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya in Porac, Pampanga as well as in the neighboring barangays of Angeles City.”
This developed even as Porac Mayor Rogelio Santos refused to give any comment on the PGKM’s call for an inspection of piggeries in the town by the international experts supervising the culling of thousands of pigs in Pandi.
Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya, the letters said, “hosts a number of large piggery arms and have long been the object of protests and denunciation of the residents as well as civil society groups for the foul odor they emit.”
The letters furthered that “residents have also complained of respiratory ailments and skin diseases as having caused by the foul air from these piggeries.”
Hence, with the Ebola Reston virus issue, the residents here “have become more apprehensive, even terrified, by the piggeries in Sta. Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya.”
“How can we be sure that the virus is not breeding among the pigs there?” the letters asked.
The PGKM appealed for the DOH and DA “to initiate action, a thorough inspection of the piggeries by your department’s experts, to assure us that the Ebola Reston virus is not
present in our midst, that the meat we consume is safe. And while at it, to initiate measures to alleviate the suffering of the people from the stench of these piggeries.”
In a chance meeting Wednesday on the occasion of the visit of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in Natividad, Guagua, mediamen asked Santos his reaction to the call of the PGKM to have the piggeries in his town “thoroughly inspected” for the Ebola Reston virus.
“No comment,” was all that Santos said according to this paper’s Joey Pavia. This drew an immediate rebuke from the PGKM.
“Coming after the total inaction of the local government of Porac on the sickening foul odor emitted by the piggeries that afflicted the residents with all kinds of diseases, Santos’ no comment’ is an affirmation of the uselessness, if not the gross negligence, of all Porac officials to really serve the needs of their constituents,” the PGKM said.
“As their inaction augurs well for the piggeries, continuing with their utter disregard of the health and safety of the residents, it is not too far fetched to believe pig-smelling allegations of P200,000 cash gifts and millions of withdrawals from banks currently emitting from Porac,” the PGKM said.
PGKM asks DOH, DA to ensure Porac piggeries safe from Ebola virus
PORAC, Pampanga – Citing “exasperation over the inaction of the local authorities” amid the Ebola Reston virus incidence in nearby Bulacan, a non-governmental organization here called on the health and agriculture departments to inspect piggeries in Porac town.
