For decades, residents of Barangays Langkiwa and Santo Tomas in Biñan City, Laguna have long endured the strong stench coming from the two large piggery farms situated right in the middle of their villages.
"Kapag darating daw ng Langkiwa, alam na alam [ng mga bisita] na nandoon na sila dahil sa 'amoy baboy,'" was how Barangay Langkiwa Captain Rodolfo Montañez, Jr. described it.
This 2025, however, residents of the two barangays will no longer have to live with the "amoy baboy" that has long constituted a health hazard in their communities.
This, as the city government led by Mayor Arman Dimaguila closed the final chapter on the continued operations of two major hog farms that had caused major headaches (literally and figuratively) for residents of these two barangays.
Under Executive Order No. 19 Series of 2018, Mayor Arman Dimaguila has ordered the phaseout of Holiday Hills Stock and Breeding Farm and Domino Farms, as well as other livestock farms in the city.
"Wala na pong permit ang Holiday Hills at Domino Farms kaya sila po ay titigil na sa pag-aalaga ng mga baboy," Dimaguila said in a social media post last week.
The executive order also convened a "Livestock Phaseout Committee", led by the city executive, that provides for the implementation of the phaseout of all livestock farms in Biñan City.
Dimaguila said the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) will immediately implement the order this year.
Legal battle
The Executive Order was issued following a decision of the Supreme Court dated October 10, 2022, which upheld the constitutionality of Municipal Ordinance No. 6 Series of 2004 that ordered the gradual phaseout of livestock farms in what was then the Municipality of Biñan.
The ordinance, which was sponsored and authored by Mayor Dimaguila when he was still municipal councilor, provided for the gradual phaseout of large piggery, fowl and other livestock farms located within the Municipality of Biñan and for other purposes.
Holiday Hills and Domino Farms both filed a petition for certiorari, claiming that the ordinance violated the due process clause of the Constitution.
However, the Supreme Court, in its 13-page decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez, said the local government simply "exercised its power to promote the general welfare of the residents of Biñan."
The high court also declared that the continued operation of the two hog farms can be considered a "nuisance per se" as "the fact that they emit an unfavorable stench immediately interferes with the safety of the residents of Biñan."
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