Greed almost killed the swine industry

By Ermin Garcia Jr.

OUR banner story on the mass killing of hogs from Bulacan is indicative of one thing: The illegal entry of the hogs were discovered not because the government was wanting but because we do have unscrupulous businessmen in our midst. What they did to exploit the garage sale of hogs in Bulacan was not only morally wrong but criminal for risking the plight of the swine industry in Pangasinan.

The provincial government was doing all to protect the swine industry in the province, utilized its resources fully, fielded personnel to implement the governor’s directive banning the entry of hogs from other provinces, ordering the police to use its authority to arrest those who willfully violate the ban. But we have two businessmen whose greed gambled away the swine industry for an estimated P600K quick profit that risked at least a hundred million in losses to hog raisers.

The two businessmen were devious that they had to plot how to escape detection by evading the 11 police checkpoints in major entry points to Pangasinan. The truck exited at Anao, Tarlac to avoid the checkpoint in TPLEX and traveled through an intricate route between towns until they reached Mapandan. Smart, Huh? Not really, because they overlooked and took for granted civic consciousness of people because someone in Calasiao became suspicious about the delivery of five hogs in his community and reported it.    

From the report that reached us, the two are in the swine industry, not merely transport cargo handlers.

It behooves the swine industry to condemn the criminal attempt of the two that could have decimated the whole industry – depopulating thousands of hogs including those of small families dutifully caring for their backyard piggery business.

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WHO NEEDS PROTECTION? Then we published a story in our last week’s issue of a male transgender in Bolinao who was found dead with his head nearly decapitated. It was clearly a murder case by the obvious nature of the killing.

But the violence of the crime did not escape the LGBTQIA+ community in Bolinao. Its leader took the issue as apolitical cause for the passage of the SOGIE bill, saying that members of the community need to be protected from sectors that discriminate against them.

But when the suspected killers came forward to surrender, they turned out to be two teens – one 17, the other 18 years old.  Were they on drugs? Apparently not.

As their testimonies indicated, it was the male transgender who allegedly triggered the bloody incident. He got the two teens drunk and then allegedly took the opportunity to molest the 17-year old. The boy tried to run but the transgender caught up and had the boy immobilized under him. As the 18-year old, narrated he came to the rescue of his friend and with the bolo he saw in the area, allegedly struck the transgender to save his friend from being molested in his drunken state.

So the claim in the senate that male transgenders are not dangerous can never hold true. From the two boys’ horrid experience, it’d seem it’s the young boys and girls who need to be protected from male crossdressers.

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GRAND SALE IN THE CITY?  The rumors going around Dagupan City that somehow refuse to die are the reported plans of the Lim administration to sell the Dagupan Water District and a portion of the city plaza to big investors in Manila.

Of course, they’re plain rumors because the city council has not received any document that indicates that a transaction is in the offing. No proposal. No offer. But why wont these die and go away?

City hall regulars can’t help talking about these. Could it perhaps be because they remember how the city was ripped off in that transaction of the city government then under Mayor Brian Lim’s father, the late Mayor BSL transacted the purchase of the 30-hectare farmland in San Jacinto ostensibly for a sanitary landfill. The city government paid P16-M and got nothing for it -no land title – but a case in court. 

The rumored sale of the water district is what seems to bother most. They are certain that a private takeover of the water district can only mean one thing – water will be more expensive while they arebmade to suffer inefficient service like the situation that water subscribers in Metro Manila are experiencing today.  

But until characters and documents surface, let’s leave them as baseless rumors for now. We’ll take care of business once the rumors begin to show some flesh and blood and the trace of millions leading to city officials’ pockets.

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ROAD-CLEARING, NOT ROAD WIDENING. The case of landowners protesting the road clearing operations that require demolition of their homes in Binmaley is not entirely uncommon.

The landowners’ observation that the DPWH (national government) and the municipal government are taking advantage of the order of the President to cut corners in expropriating land for road widening projects may have some basis.   

Both the DPWH and the Binmaley government have been giving notices of demolition to landowners without even the benefit of showing property lines of government that have been illegally occupied.

I don’t think that’s the intention of President Duterte’s order – to clear roads of obstructions and obstacles!

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