Grease money in chicken dung trade

EDITORIAL

There is more than meets the eye in the battle between Benguet provincial officials and La Trinidad municipal council over the lucrative chicken dung trade in the capital town.

Now the town council wants the Cordillera office of the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate claims bribery might have influenced the Benguet provincial board in declaring invalid the town’s ordinance on the chicken dung trade.

In a resolution, the council demanded investigation of concerned authorities who had allegedly influenced the passage of a provincial board resolution nullifying this town’s ordinance regulating the chicken dung trade.

Earlier, the provincial board declared as invalid La Trinidad’s ordinance which prescribed rules and regulations governing sale and disposal of chicken dung because of alleged lack of sufficient protection for the public.

The battle between the two legislative bodies continued to rage even as the Regional Trial Court’s Branch 63 in the province issued a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting the sale and disposal of chicken dung in Barangay Shilan until concerned businessmen complied with health and environmental measures embodied in the municipal ordinance.

La Trinidad municipal council said they passed the ordinance in response to public clamor for a local law to govern and regulate the sale of chicken dung, the organic fertilizer widely used for vegetable growing in the province.

The municipal councilors said they were compelled to approve the regulatory measure because some people were allegedly making piles of money from unregulated sale of chicken dung in the area.

Members of the council assailed the decision of the provincial board to invalidate the regulatory ordinance, saying thousands of farmers would continue to suffer if the sale of the commodity is unregulated.

Some councilors said the municipal government would not allow a certain group to dominate the trade because this would give them the leverage to dictate prices at the expense of farmers.

What is important, the council stated, is there should be more chicken dung trading areas in the province. It said the provincial board’s action of invalidating the measure was tantamount to declaring chicken dung as nuisance when in fact it is helping thousands of farmers improve their crops.

Whatever, money is involved in the trade. A probe by the NBI on the matter could clarify some issues like who are getting grease money from operators of the chicken dung trade of there are.