Baguio piggery project in Tuba/ Security cams / Poll registration

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The Dept. of Agriculture-backed piggery project of Baguio in San Pascual, Tuba, Benguet is starting to gain acceptance from the host community giving the project some headway.

City Social Welfare and Development Officer Betty Fangasan Feb. 3 told the Management Committee headed by Mayor Benjamin Magalong said they are awaiting word on the passage of a resolution of acceptance of the project by the municipality as some residents expressed appreciation of the project during the public consultation they conducted recently. 

She said they will set the ground-breaking ceremony will be scheduled anytime this month but the construction will start after the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) is accomplished.

Two rounds of consultations were done by the city government and the DA Cordillera and some community representatives were toured to an existing similar facility in Concepcion, Tarlac and in Mangatarem, Pangasinan where they witnessed how the facilities were operated.

The mayor said the DA has increased its fund assistance for the project from P10 million to P12 million while Thailand-based CPF food company will provide training and basic materials for the hog raising facility.

The state-of-the-art commercial piggery farm which will employ a fully computerized operation requiring minimal manpower will be located at the 10,000-square meter lot in San Pascual, the owner of which represented by Engr. Francis Cuyop consented to have the lot used for the project for ten years under a usufruct accord signed recently.

Among the grantees of the project are the backyard hog raisers in the city whose piggeries were closed beginning Jan. 30 after being given a grace period to wind down their operation.

The piggery closure will stem the pollution of rivers in the city caused by the pigpens directly dumping their wastes to the tributaries pursuant to the city’s Environment Code and Republic Act 8749 or the Clean Air Act, RA 9275 or the Philippine Water Act, and RA 9904 or the Magna Carta for Homeowners and Homeowners Associations which all bans piggeries in highly urbanized cities.

Some of the pigpen owners agreed to organize themselves into a cooperative now called the Baguio Animal Raisers Cooperative (Baraco) which will be the initial grantees of the piggery farm project.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the project is an ideal livelihood alternative for the displaced hog raisers as the two piggery facilities to be built in the proposed area are expected to house 1,200 hogs with harvest at least twice a year.

Meanwhile, Asst. City Environment and Parks Management Officer Rhenan Diwas said they have identified more than 200 hog raisers in the city and more are expected as the barangays were urged to submit their list in relation to the mayor’s order to stop the operation of piggeries in the city by Jan. 30.

Diwas said initial reports placed the total of backyard piggeries at more than 700 hog raisers but some of them have complied and halted their operation before the deadline.

He urged the barangays to speed up the submission of their inventory for the city to validate the number.

Those who will not comply will face demolition of their pigpens, confiscation of their hogs and criminal charges for violation of the city’s Environment Code and related national laws.

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The city government will study an offer from a private company to provide infrastructure that would facilitate the implementation of the no contact apprehension policy in the city.

Advantech Solutions Feb. 3 presented its technology before city executives and city councilors that promises enhanced fiber optic capabilities and no contact apprehension capability of international standard.

The project would involve the laying down of kilometers long conduits for fiber optics and no contact apprehension infrastructure side by side with the installation of the Smart City project platform using ultra-modern and “teachable” cameras that ensure high violation detection rate. 

Mayor Benjamin Magalong is convinced that the technology will complement the city’s Smart City venture as it will augment the number of cameras that the Smart City project could provide.

He said the fiber optics and no contact apprehension facilities will be constructed at no cost to the city and the company’s gain would come in the form of shares from the fines collected.

The P200 million Office of the President-backed Smart City project that would provide the city a state-of-the-art integrated and multi-purpose command center with the use of top-of-the-line technology and artificial intelligence to tackle peace and order, traffic and disaster response is set to kick off this year. 

However, it would only provide around 70-80 cameras in its area of coverage and Advantech offer s additional 500 cameras and fiber optics facilities for optimal effectiveness.

The mayor said the city will consider the offer while he asked the city council under Coun. Faustino Olowan to study the passage of a no contact apprehension ordinance.

Advantech is expected to submit its unsolicited proposal for the city’s study.

“The unsolicited proposal will be evaluated and if in case we like it, we will provide a certificate of acceptance and give the company an original proponent status and then we will publish the proposal and accept other proposals to challenge it,” the mayor said.

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The Commission on Election will hold an offsite voter registration for the public and city government employees on Feb. 10, 9 a.m. onwards at the City Hall lobby.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong urged residents and city government employees who have not registered yet to grab the opportunity to enlist and to be counted in the next poll exercise.

All types of voter registration including new voters, transfer of record, change of status or correction of entries and reactivation of registration will be entertained.

New registrants are required to bring their valid IDs and birth certificates while applicants for change of status and/or correction of entries should bring their marriage contracts and birth certificates.

Comelec Election Officer lawyer John Paul Martin arranged the offsite registration at the City Hall after discovering that many city employees are not active voters.

“As we intensify our goal to register qualified citizens, it is proper to start with requiring government employees to register and vote to set an example to private citizens to do the same,” Martin told Magalong.

The mayor tasked City Human Resource Management Officer-in-Charge Edith Dawaten to coordinate the Comelec activity and ensure that employees will avail of the services.