ILOILO City – Four parties have expressed interest to rehabilitate the city’s slaughterhouse in Barangay Tacas, Jaro district, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
“A premier city like us should not have an abattoir where animals are butchered on the floor. We can’t say meat from our slaughterhouse is safe when the facility is incapable of slaughtering animals the right way,” said Treñas.
Improving the slaughterhouse is one of Treñas’ priorities. He, however, did not name the four interested parties.
The mayor said a public-private partnership (PPP) would be ideal for the plan with the help of the national government’s PPP Center.
Representatives from the PPP Center will be inspecting the slaughterhouse this month and discus the city government’s plan for it, said Treñas.
The slaughterhouse has failed to get any rating or classification – A, AA or AAA – from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), a specialized regulatory agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA) that is the country’s sole controlling authority on all matters pertaining to meat inspection and hygiene.
Meat from an unrated slaughterhouse may have adverse effects on the local economy, warned DA assistant secretary for Visayas Hansel Didulo in a previous interview.
“The moment NMIS and the Bureau of Animal Industry Quarantine Service strictly impose their rules, you cannot transport meat from the slaughterhouse. This will have a big impact on the city’s economy because tons of meat from here are being shipped to Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, and even to Boracay,” said Didulo.
According to Ariel Castañeda, chief of the city government’s Local Economic Enterprise Office that oversees the slaughterhouse’s operation, the facility slaughters between 180 to 200 heads of hogs and cattle.
Didulo said an A classification means meat from the slaughterhouse can be transported within the city only while an AA classification means the meat can be transported outside the city.
An AAA classification, on the other hand, means the meat from the slaughterhouse is safe enough to be shipped abroad.
“Everyday nagakaon kita meat sa city. We say wala s’ya nag agi sa slaughterhouse nga may certification sa standards. Amo ina ang problem naton,” said Didulo.
The slaughterhouse was constructed and became operational in the later part of 2007 when Treñas was mayor. It deteriorated through the years.
The DA helped repair and upgrade it to AA classification in November 2012 under the administration of then mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. It was funded by a P40-million share from Sen. Franklin Drilon’s Priority Development Assistance Fund as well as a P31.5-million allocation by the DA under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and the P11.5- million equity of the Iloilo City government.
The upgrade included a set of modern mechanized slaughtering and cutting equipment, 50-ton cold storage facility, waste water filtration system, holding pen and meat delivery van.
Then DA secretary Proceso Alcala encouraged Iloilo farmers, livestock raisers and meat traders to maximize the use of the upgraded slaughterhouse to strengthen the meat industry in the province.
But again, the slaughterhouse deteriorated. For 11 months beginning December 2015, the city government lost around P17 million after the abattoir stopped accepting hogs due to malfunctioning boilers.
The NMIS evaluated the slaughterhouse in May 2017 and recommended that the city government employ competent personnel to maintain the facility.
It also suggested that the slaughterhouse’s operation be privatized./PN
