I MUST SAY I’m quite impressed. Mayor-elect Geronimo Buenaventura Treñas a.k.a. Jerry Treñas has not yet officially assumed his post as new mayor of “I Am Iloilo City” yet he has already taken great strides to show, perhaps impress, the natives that he is really serious in fulfilling his mantra “Level Up” and take the city into the next level.
Hold the celebrations. I’m not yet converted. Fact is I did not even vote for him but he seems to be on the right track so far.
I’m pretty sure he has been reading my columns, particularly the June 7 article. Here’s an excerpt from that column:
And do you know that “I Am Iloilo City does not even have a proper slaughterhouse? The Iloilo City slaughterhouse does not have Triple A rating from the National Meat Inspection Service or NMIS and that is a requirement for a highly-urbanized city or HUC.
On top of this “I Am Iloilo City” does not have a proper dog pound or an animal welfare ordinance?
Now Moi is pretty certain that Mayor- elect Jerry Treñas had read that particular column considering the fact that on June 7 at the multi-sectoral consultative meeting organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Iloilo Chapter he specifically addressed that particular issue.
Excerpts from the June 8, 2019 issue of Panay News:
“Iloilo City is a highly urbanized city. We cannot allow it not to have a triple A slaughterhouse,” said Treñas during yesterday’s multi-sectoral consultative meeting organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Iloilo Chapter.
“When I was mayor I was able to access funds from the PPP Center (then known as the Build-Operate and Transfer Center). We were able to build a building and a wastewater treatment plant. The Department of Agriculture purchased all the equipment for the slaughterhouse. Unfortunately, that all deteriorated. Probably there are certain stages that can be better run by the private sector,” said Treñas.
Through the years there had been attempts to upgrade the city’s slaughterhouse located in Barangay Tacas, Jaro district but it consistently failed to secure a rating (A, AA or AAA) from the National Meat Inspection Service due to various inadequacies in, among others, equipment and operation.
Well and good. In fact very good, more so if Mayor- elect Jerry Treñas will finally make the Iloilo slaughterhouse achieve a triple A rating from the NMIS once he has the reins of “I Am Iloilo City.”
For years the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” have been eating unsafe meat coming from the city slaughterhouse as it has time and time again failed to get any kind of rating from the NMIS.
On the good side, with the absence of any NMIS certified meat coming from the city slaughterhouse a lot of the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” have shifted to the much healthier and safer plant-based diet.
But what about the city pound or the lack of it? For years also “I Am Iloilo City” does not have a proper dog pound nor animal welfare ordinance. For any city to fancy itself as “world-class” it must have a proper dog pound and a proper animal welfare ordinance.
“I Am Iloilo City” cannot go to the next level or “Level Up” if it is not rabies-free.
It is good to know that Mayor-elect Jerry Treñas announced and introduced during that multi-sectoral consultative meeting an executive assistant who will be in charge of the city’s beautification project.
I do hope that the beautification project will not only be planting flowers along the Diversion Road but will include environmental conservation and clean-up as well.
What makes “I Am Iloilo City” standout is not the Esplanade and the bike lanes (although they form important components) but the Iloilo River which technically speaking is not a river in the truest sense but an arm of the sea.
That “Iloilo River” is the cleanest urban river in the Philippines and what completes its uniqueness and beauty is its cleanliness – relatively trash-free complemented by the mangroves along the banks.
The maintenance and regular clean-up of “Iloilo River” should be part and parcel of the beautification project likewise for the conservation and protection of the mangroves along its banks.
The next level of “I Am Iloilo City” is not garbage floating along the “Iloilo River”.
Just before the recent election the administration of outgoing Mayor Joe Espinosa III embarked on cleaning up all the beaches along the city’s coastline. Hopefully politics does not get in the way to stop or ignore this good project.
And on the lighter side, it does seem Mayor-elect Geronimo Buenaventura Treñas wants to hit the ground running and I say good for you as all that running can make you shed some unwanted pounds. Of course, pun intended. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
