Demolition of 15 pigpens proceeds without a hitch
-A A +AThursday, September 27, 2012
THE Mandaue City Government demolished 15 piggeries in Barangay Mantuyong yesterday afternoon for violating the City’s sanitation code and zoning ordinance.
“Pahuway lang usa mi ani (We will have to take a rest from this business),” said Mantuyong Barangay Captain Antonio Maquilan, one of the piggery owners.
The City ordered the owners to transfer operations to the City Slaughterhouse in Barangay Labogon.
But Maquilan, who had operated a piggery for 35 years, said the slaughterhouse is located in a far-flung area where robbery is rampant.
Some 30 butchers in the Mantuyong lost their jobs with the demolition of the piggeries.
Roland Blanco, 37, said slaughtering hogs is his only source of income. He has two children attending grade school.
In Mantuyong, butchers earn P100 to P200 for every pig they slaughter. In a day, they slaughter as many as five pigs.
Supt. Jason Capoy, the overall ground commander of yesterday’s operation, said the demolition went without resistance from the owners.
Some owners voluntarily demolished their pigpens.
He said they encountered no problem because they personally know the owners of the piggeries.
But they still deployed 33 police officers and 18 members of the Special Weapons and Tactics, who carried shields and wore bullet-proof vests.
City Veterinarian Ma. Daisy Penetrante said the piggeries operating in Mantuyong did not have a license from the Bureau of Animal Industry.
Hours before the demolition, owners of the piggeries transferred their hogs to the slaughterhouse. The City provided the vehicles for the transfer.
Maquilan denied their piggeries are unsanitary.
He admitted thought that they dump wastes into the river, saying this is practiced by piggeries in other places like Cebu City.
The barangay official said he invested P200,000 for a stall at the new market, but it went bankrupt because of there are only few customers there.
Maquilan said he stopped buying hogs when he received the City’s demolition order last Sept. 21.
He hopes that the City will allow them to transfer to a place nearer to their old location.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 27, 2012.
Local news
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