La Trinidad council urges NBI:Probe bribery-Battle over chicken dung trade in Benguet escalates

By Dexter A. See

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The battle between provincial officials and La Trinidad municipal officials over the lucrative chicken dung trade in this capital town continues to escalate.

Fears were aired the controversy might be blown out of proportion. The municipal council of this town approved a resolution urging the Cordillera office of the National Bureau of Investigation to investigate claims bribery might have influenced the Benguet provincial board in declaring invalid this town’s ordinance on the chicken dung trade.

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

Earlier, the provincial board declared as invalid La Trinidad’s ordinance which prescribed the rules and regulations governing the 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 here issued a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting the sale and disposal of chicken dung in Barangay Shilan until the concerned businessmen will have complied with the health and environmental measures embodied in the municipal ordinance.

The municipal council passed the regulatory 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 are allegedly making piles of money from the 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 continues to be 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 the prices at the expense of the farmers.

What is important, the council stated, is that there should be more chicken dung trading areas in the province. It said that 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.