Abattoir may halt operations if bridge gets demolished

The concrete bridge traversing the Mahiga Creek leads to the Cebu City slaughterhouse in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City.
(CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Cebu City’s slaughterhouse won’t be accessible to anyone if the Mandaue City government makes good its threat to demolish the concrete bridge leading to the facility.

Dr. Alice Utlang, former City Veterinarian and head of slaughterhouse operations, said the demolition of the bridge which was among those identified by a Mandaue City Hall inspection team could lead to the closure of the city slaughterhouse which would drive at least 100 people out of work.

“Ug tang-tangon na diha mo undang jud ta ug ihaw kay asa man paagi-on, ipalutaw? (If they demolish the bridge, we will have to stop because where will we pass? Will we be made to float)?,” she told Cebu Daily News.

The Cebu City slaughterhouse is the first modern abattoir in Central Visayas that started in 1988 and is one of the city’s economic enterprises earning at least P2 million per month.

Mechanized

“It’s the only government slaughterhouse in the city that slaughters animals for meat,” Utlang said. A number of private slaughterhouses operating in Cebu City cater mostly to  lechon (roasted pig) traders.

Utlang said the Cebu City slaughterhouse wasn’t accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service since the 90s because of its failure to comply with several requirements for accreditation.

Utlang said while the slaughterhouse’s operation is mechanized, it lacks fasteners for very huge pigs.

It also doesn’t have a waste treatment facility and separate passage ways for livestock and meat.

Utlang who was slaughterhouse operations head from 2005 to 2012 said she earlier proposed  to build a new slaughterhouse near the city nursery, which is just a few meters away from the existing abattoir.

A private contractor proposed to build the P100 million facility at no cost to the city.

Project cost

The Cebu City government was only asked to provide the lot for the slaughterhouse project but it didn’t materialize.

Under the proposed project, Cebu City Hall was to operate the new slaughterhouse and pay the project cost to the contractor within a certain period of years.  The city will then own the new facility.

But since the project didn’t push through, Cebu City Hall allocated P30 million to rehabilitate the existing slaughterhouse.

Another P5 million in additional funding is proposed in next year’s budget for the abattoir rehabilitation project.

“But even if ma-repair (it is repaired) we will still not qualify for NMIS standard,” Utlang said.

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