LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government will be giving all chicken dung establishments in the municipality a maximum of fifteen days to voluntarily relocate to other areas outside the capital town to prevent the eventual closure of their businesses anytime.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that while it is true that the Shilan Chicken Dung Truckers and traders Association has a pending request to the local government to allow the storage of the dung in secluded areas, there is no ordinance that allows the same that is why the local government has no legal basis to allow their continue operation in barangay Shilan and other nearby barangays in the municipality.
He claimed that the request of the organization was transmitted to the municipal council for appropriate action.
Earlier, the chicken dung group sought reconsideration from the local government to allow the storage of the said dung in their identified storage facilities as they will institute measures that will allow the same not to emit an obnoxious odor.
However, mayor Salda admitted that the local government continues to receive complaints from the affected residents on the inconveniences that they continue to suffer with the presence of the chicken businesses within their communities.
According to him, the primordial consideration by the local government in ordering the relocation of the chicken dung businesses outside the municipality is the health and safety of the affected residents, the effects of the obnoxious odor emanating from the dung to the environment and the health of the people and that the said business had been long been declared a nuisance.
The local chief executive claimed that the chicken dung traders and truckers had already been given the appropriate notices for them to voluntarily relocate to other areas that allow the conduct of their trade because of the various complaints that local officials had been receiving since they were doing business in the municipality.
Salda stipulated that the possible 15-day extension for their stay in their existing areas of operation in the municipality will be the final ultimatum that will be given to them to relocate or it will be the local government that will eventually close their establishments anytime after the lapse of the said extension.
The mayor admitted that after the lapse of the earlier ultimatum given to the chicken dung traders and truckers for them to relocate, the local government received another petition from the affected residents that reiterated their opposition to the continue operation of the said establishments as they had already suffered for several years being exposed to extreme health and environment hazards posed by the dung amidst the commitment of the businessmen to institute mitigating measures to reduce the odor emanating from the same.
He urged the chicken dung traders and truckers to cooperate with the firm position of the local government for them to relocate to other areas outside the municipality to put an end to the sufferings of the residents who had been tolerating their existence for a number of years that is why it is high time for the people to be given the needed relief from being exposed to health and environmental hazards of their exposure to the dung trade.