If Mandaue City is adamant on demolishing the concrete bridge leading to the Cebu City slaughterhouse, Cebu City Hall should consider shutting down the facility and look to build someplace else.
It’s not like they haven’t considered that possibility before. Former Cebu City veterinarian Dr. Alice Utlang proposed the construction of a new P30-million abattoir during a Cebu City Council budget hearing three years ago.
She, however, proposed that the new slaughterhouse be built near the city nursery, a walking distance from the present abattoir.
The Cebu City slaughterhouse is located in barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City and is accessible only through the concrete bridge. It’s within the three-meter easement of the Mahiga Creek which has lately been vulnerable to overflowing during heavy downpours that flood Cebu City streets.
Mahiga Creek has also been the subject of a testy exchange between Mayors Michael Rama of Cebu City and Jonas Cortes of Mandaue caused by Rama’s insistence that the footbridges there be immediately demolished to prevent more people from settling in the creek.
A previous meeting between Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella and Mayor Jonas Cortes established a committee comprised of representatives from both cities that would try to find a working arrangement to resolve the Mahiga Creek problem.
During that meeting, Cortes asked that they be given a grace period to relocate the settlers from their side of the Mahiga Creek to their resettlement site in barangay Pakna-an.
By threatening to demolish the concrete bridge leading to the slaughterhouse, Cortes is merely getting back at Rama for unduly pressuring him to demolish all footbridges from his side.
Back channel negotiations are needed by Cebu City Hall to ask Mandaue City to give them grace period to relocate the slaughterhouse to a suitable place, where there is no creek or residential area that will suffer from the stench of its operations.
Or Rama could personally talk to Cortes and ask that the bridge be retained on condition that they would pursue the construction of two wastewater facilities worth P5 million to eliminate the pollution contributed by the slaughterhouse.
Or Rama could decide to pay the taxes Cebu City owed to Mandaue City — which may be unlikely following a disclosure by Cebu City Hall’s Registry Office that Cebu City has a title of the lot occupied by the abattoir.
In lieu of a relocation, Rama has nothing to lose if he will quietly talk to Cortes – away from the glare of the cameras – and persuade him to allow the bridge to remain in return for making sure that the abattoir won’t aggravate the siltation at the Mahiga Creek.