City intensifies operation vs. 'hot meat'
BACOLOD CITY – Effective 12:01 in the morning of November 5, 2008, any meat slaughtered in places other than the New Slaughterhouse in Barangay Handumanan will be considered "hot meat".
Anti-Illegal Slaughtering Task Force said 'hot meats' would be subject to apprehension and confiscation.
Any meat in transit should be accompanied by a current meat inspection certificate duly signed by the meat inspector assigned in the slaughterhouse.
The task force according to Dr. Adelo Daroy did not operate strictly before because of the extension agreed by the city and Brgy. 35 affected individuals for the continued operation of the old slaughterhouse.
Now that the city already made a final decision, they will enforce the full force of the law.
An advisory from the task force addressed to all meat vendors and traders was released yesterday regarding the implementation of Ordinance No. 459, series of 2008 otherwise known as the Illegal Slaughtering Ordinance of Bacolod City.
Yesterday, the operation of the old slaughterhouse located in Brgy. 35 had already ceased.
Bacolod Councilor Alex Paglumotan said the slaughterhouse will not be closed but instead, will be transformed into a meat or food-processing area.
Out of the 98 butchers, offal cleaners and workers of the old facility, only 38 have availed of the financial assistance extended by the city government. Some are still thinking whether to get it or not.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia is giving the butchers P5,000 each while the workers will receive P3,000 each in a budget of less than half a million.
The plan is to repackage and redesign the old slaughterhouse to turn it into a revenue generating facility for Bacolod and livelihood center for the people. However, this will be a long-term program.
AVM Bernardo, the operator of the new slaughterhouse, announced that they incurred losses everyday because of the extension agreed before. They expressed their gratitude that at last the extension has ended and all slaughtering operation will be done in Handumanan.
The operator invested at least P54 million for twenty years operation as provided in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed with the city government of Bacolod.