Davao City opens slaughterhouses

By Ruth Palo, Manila Times

DAVAO CITY: The city government here opened double-A halal and non-halal slaughterhouses with cold storage and meat-cutting facilities on Friday.

These facilities, Economic Enterprise Officer in Charge Maximo Macalipes Jr. said, were part of the project plans of the city to put up a facility that caters to the pressing need of prospective customers for an excellent slaughtering that conforms to the standard set by the National Meat Inspection Services.

Macalipes said that his office is truly grateful for the approval of the project and the necessary support such as the financial aspect of the "world-class" slaughterhouse that will be operating soon.

He said that the Manual of Operations for the two slaughterhouses is already finished and is pending official approval from the Malagos Slaughterhouse Management Board.

The project was funded by the Department of Agriculture (DA) through its National Livestock Program, DA 11 Bottom-up Budgeting (BUB) Program, and Davao City Government.

The P80 million budget for the completion of the non-halal abattoir was sourced from the DA National Livestock Program, and P5 million came from DA 11 BUB.

The city has also allocated P1 million for the completion of the halal abattoir, and another P7.7 was allocated from the supplemental budget 2022 for the additional equipment.

Slaughter House Master 4 Joseph Gabut, in a previous interview, said that the operation of the slaughterhouses would be to the advantage of the poultry and livestock raisers in Calinan, Mintal, and the Toril public markets, the areas near the slaughterhouse.

The halal slaughterhouse will also provide an additional market for vendors because even Muslim clients will patronize them once their meat is certified Halal, he said.

The cold storage, the blast freezers and the meat processing plant which are the additional features of the non-halal slaughterhouse will be to the advantage of clients because these will help them easily process and preserve food for a wider market reach. The meat processing facility with meat grinders can also cater to a commercial size output.

A cold storage facility is also attached to the slaughterhouses and because of these features, the clients can market their products outside Davao City and throughout the Philippines.

The rates and charges for the slaughter and corral fees for the slaughterhouses will be based on Article 12, Section 383, Ordinance 0291-17 Series of 2017 or "An Ordinance Amending the 2005 Revenue Code of the City otherwise known as the 2017 Revenue Code of Davao," and the charges for meat processing (cutting, blast freezing, cold storage, etc) are still subject to final review before endorsement to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for inclusion with the existing ordinance.

Mayor Sebastian Duterte led the inauguration of the slaughterhouses.