ANGELES CITY – "The initiatives we take to bring in more tourists to Pampanga are being deterred if not totally reversed by the foul odor and the flies from Porac."
Thus remarked Ronaldo Tiotuico, director of the Central Luzon office of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
This developed even as a Korean investor noted how his compatriots have come to the mindset of "the Philippines is a dirty country."
"In effect, the piggeries that cause this stench are poisoning the tourism industry," Tiotuico added as he toured the Royal Garden Golf and Country Club in Barangay Pulong Maba, Porac near the city boundary yesterday.
Tiotuico himself experience being "hassled by swarms upon swarms of flies" and his olfactory senses "assailed by the stink, the stench" emitted by the pig farms in Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug-Paralaya, Porac.
"What tourists can we expect to come here with this really foul odor and the flies?" Tiotuico said even as he enjoined the local government of Porac to "act expeditiously on the problem."
"The potentials of Porac as a tourism destination are high, boosted further by the reality of the Royal Garden Golf which is truly a great wonder, a one-of-a-kind fusion of sports and the arts with its Grecian and Roman ‘ruins’," Tiotuico said. "To let all these go to waste simply because of foul odor and the flies is one immeasurable tragedy for the town and its people."
Korean investor Anthony Kwak who met Tiotuico while playing golf at the Royal garden course complained: "The big problem are the flies which shoo away investors. It also gives the impression that the country is really dirty."
Kwak is currently building 25 villas at the Royal Garden estate for incoming Korean tourists.
"The golf course is challenging, the view is beautiful but we are always bothered by flies and the foul odor," Kwak said, adding that it would be difficult to entice tourists to come under these situations.
"I have a friend who was drinking mango shake here yesterday. Two flies dived into his drink even before he could finish it," added Kwak.
The Porac piggeries have long been the subject of complaints by residents who blame them for the increase in respiratory and skin ailments in the communities.
