CAPOOCAN, Leyte – Residents of a village in this town are complaining on the operations of a poultry farm saying it’s becoming a health hazard to them.
The residents of Barangay San Joaquin claimed that they have made their complaint against the owner of the A&E Farm but to no avail.
Antonio Aragon, a resident of the village whose house is located few meters away from the poultry farm, said that their health are now affected.
“It poses health risk to us. We can’t eat well during harvest time because of flies swarming our houses and our food,” he said.
His neighbor, Danilo Malicabul, added that the flies are even infesting his farm located in adjacent mountain.
He added that the waste water of the poultry farm pollutes the creek down the mountain that is used by residents for bathing.
The residents said that they felt that they were deceived because when the poultry farm was being constructed two years ago, they were told by the workers that were constructing a hospital.
The owner of the said poultry farm is said to be a well-known political figure in the province reason why their complaints are not being acted upon, the residents said.
An employee of the poultry farm, who did not gave his name, asked for an appointment from Leyte Samar Daily Express before they could answer any questions relative to the complaints of the residents.
Rosie Quilarto, village chairwoman, said that she already visited the poultry farm twice after they received complaints from the residents and were shown some mitigation measures purportedly put in place by the management, mainly to stop the fly infestation.
But obviously, the measures did not help contain the problem as the village continue to be swarm with fly infestation, especially during harvest time.
Quilarto added that the council cannot make any action against the problem because they had not yet received a formal complaint from any of the residents.
Leyte Board Member Raissa Villasin, who represents the 2nd district of Leyte where Capoocan town is included, asked the residents that if the barangay leaders failed to take action on their problem, they should elevate their complaint to the municipal level before they in the provincial board can take action and conduct any possible investigation.
“The board cannot just supersede the power of the barangay and the mayor. That is why, the residents should file their complaint first in the barangay level and in the municipal level before we can take action by conducting an investigation in the provincial board if the two offices cannot make action,” she said.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
