CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – “Highly inaccurate.”
Thus said officials of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office here of the report released to the media last April 22 by the Porac anti-pollution task force.
The EMB officials belied claims by the task force that it (EMB) found six of the 12 Porac piggeries inspected as having failed to meet the standards set by the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB).
Lisa Dimaliwat, chief of the EMB planning, programming, MIS and statistical division, said on Monday that the anti-pollution task force organized by Porac Mayor Roger Santos had “wrongly interpreted their report.” She added that “only one piggery failed” in their series of tests conducted last January to February.
“We want to put on record that the task force had requested us to conduct the inspection. The EMB was put on a bad light when the task force head implied that we had conducted the tests on our own and gave an incomplete report without the names of the supposed violators,” said Dimaliwat.
Earlier, task force chief Rodgie Pangilinan disclosed that six out of the 12 piggeries in Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya had failed to meet the standards of the PAB. He added that “of the six erring farms, four had no waste water discharge while the other two were noted to have pending cases before the PAB.”
In the two-page EMB report that Punto! secured, Marson Hog Farm in Sta. Cruz “exceeded and failed” BOD standards, “having 170 mg/L. The standard is set at 120 mg/L.”
“Firm has pending water pollution case with the PAB under its former name Happy Valley Hog Farm, Inc., with PAB Case No. 03-00069-88,” said the report on Marson Farm. It added that “it was for endorsement to the PAB.”
EMB Regional Director Oscar Cabanayan, who was interviewed with Dimaliwat at his office here, stressed that his office could “only make a report or findings on water waste.”
Dimaliwat echoed the sentiments of Cabanayan. She added that it’s up to the local government units (LGUs) to handle the complaints against foul smell emitted by the piggeries in Porac.
“The problem on foul smell has been there for many years but we are limited to testing the wastewater discharge of piggeries,” said Dimaliwat. She urged Porac officials to make “an inventory of all piggeries – big and small – as a first step in finding a solution to the problem.”
Cabanayan, for his part, said the EMB is open to request for testing on piggeries whether asked by public or private entities.
The broad-based organizations Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) and Krusada Kontra Amoy (KKA) have been at the forefront of protests against the Porac piggeries for the stench and stink that they emitted.
Residents of Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug-Paralaya where the piggeries are located as well as those in nearby Angeles City have long been complaining not only of the foul smell but also the increase in respiratory and skin ailments which they said is traceable to the piggeries.
The eleven firms that passed the EMB test were Greenfield Country Farms, Select Farm, Logo Farm and Santa Cruz Farm, in Sta. Cruz, and Villa Aida Farm, A-1 Piggery Farm, JC Farm, IO Farm, LTO Farm, and Y-Ten Livestock Farm in Paralaya-Manaibaug.
Under the EMB rules, piggeries could not be sanctioned so long as they keep in lagoons confined inside their areas the wastewater discharge even if it failed the BOD standard.
In the same report, it indicated that the ‘odor test was for determination by the LGU sanitary unit.”
Thus said officials of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office here of the report released to the media last April 22 by the Porac anti-pollution task force.
The EMB officials belied claims by the task force that it (EMB) found six of the 12 Porac piggeries inspected as having failed to meet the standards set by the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB).
Lisa Dimaliwat, chief of the EMB planning, programming, MIS and statistical division, said on Monday that the anti-pollution task force organized by Porac Mayor Roger Santos had “wrongly interpreted their report.” She added that “only one piggery failed” in their series of tests conducted last January to February.
“We want to put on record that the task force had requested us to conduct the inspection. The EMB was put on a bad light when the task force head implied that we had conducted the tests on our own and gave an incomplete report without the names of the supposed violators,” said Dimaliwat.
Earlier, task force chief Rodgie Pangilinan disclosed that six out of the 12 piggeries in Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug Paralaya had failed to meet the standards of the PAB. He added that “of the six erring farms, four had no waste water discharge while the other two were noted to have pending cases before the PAB.”
In the two-page EMB report that Punto! secured, Marson Hog Farm in Sta. Cruz “exceeded and failed” BOD standards, “having 170 mg/L. The standard is set at 120 mg/L.”
“Firm has pending water pollution case with the PAB under its former name Happy Valley Hog Farm, Inc., with PAB Case No. 03-00069-88,” said the report on Marson Farm. It added that “it was for endorsement to the PAB.”
EMB Regional Director Oscar Cabanayan, who was interviewed with Dimaliwat at his office here, stressed that his office could “only make a report or findings on water waste.”
Dimaliwat echoed the sentiments of Cabanayan. She added that it’s up to the local government units (LGUs) to handle the complaints against foul smell emitted by the piggeries in Porac.
“The problem on foul smell has been there for many years but we are limited to testing the wastewater discharge of piggeries,” said Dimaliwat. She urged Porac officials to make “an inventory of all piggeries – big and small – as a first step in finding a solution to the problem.”
Cabanayan, for his part, said the EMB is open to request for testing on piggeries whether asked by public or private entities.
The broad-based organizations Pinoy Gumising Ka Movement (PGKM) and Krusada Kontra Amoy (KKA) have been at the forefront of protests against the Porac piggeries for the stench and stink that they emitted.
Residents of Barangays Sta. Cruz and Manibaug-Paralaya where the piggeries are located as well as those in nearby Angeles City have long been complaining not only of the foul smell but also the increase in respiratory and skin ailments which they said is traceable to the piggeries.
The eleven firms that passed the EMB test were Greenfield Country Farms, Select Farm, Logo Farm and Santa Cruz Farm, in Sta. Cruz, and Villa Aida Farm, A-1 Piggery Farm, JC Farm, IO Farm, LTO Farm, and Y-Ten Livestock Farm in Paralaya-Manaibaug.
Under the EMB rules, piggeries could not be sanctioned so long as they keep in lagoons confined inside their areas the wastewater discharge even if it failed the BOD standard.
In the same report, it indicated that the ‘odor test was for determination by the LGU sanitary unit.”
