By CARIZZA IBAñEZ
Residents can expect a cleaner and more pleasant smelling Christmas after workers from the Pasig River Rehabilitation Comission (PRRC) dismantled another batch of illegal pig pens yesterday in Baseco Compound in Port Area, Manila.
An initial raid, which tore down nine pig pens, was carried out last Dec. 5 led by PRRC Executive Director Jose Antonio E. Goitia, but PRRC continued to receive complaints about the foul odor.
That prompted a second raid from the PRRC.
PRRC personnel knocked down pig pens located near the residents’ houses and recovered several pigs which were confiscated by Manila’s impounding authorities.
Allan Pido, a resident of Baseco and a caretaker of a 32-year-old pig pen, said they asked for an extension until Dec. 31 so that they could sell their pigs in time for Christmas.
Pido asserted that their pig pen is well-maintained.
“Pwede naman sigurong humarap muna kung sino ‘yong nagrereklamo. Malinis naman po ‘yong amin,” Pido lamented.
Goitia said they had warned pig pen operators about the hazards brought about by their operation.
“All of us know how harmful are industrial, household, and animal wastes to humans, and yet, the practice of having pig pens placed nearby houses and flushing out of wastes directly into the river proliferated in alarming proportion,” Goitia said. Last week’s raid was organized upon PRRC’s discovery that pen owners dump their wastes directly to the Pasig River.
