Deal on abattoir rehab awaiting Council approval

THE proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the City Government of Davao and Bankerohan Livestock Dealer's Cooperative (BLDC) for the rehabilitation of the Ma-a Slaughterhouse is awaiting approval from the City Council.

City Council speaker pro tempore Melchor Quitain said the BLDC is investing P49 million for the Ma-a Slaughterhouse, a Public-Private Partnership Project (PPP) under a Rehabilitate-Operate-Transfer (ROT) arrangement that will run for a period of 15 years.

The PPP ordinance, which was approved in August last year, paves the way for proposed partnership between the City Government and other interested private firms or individuals who are willing to develop and co-manage city-owned enterprises for a given period of time.

Quitain said the City Government is willing to privatize the operations and management of the slaughterhouse.

The BLDC won the bidding, which started few weeks after the approval of the ordinance, and will be in-charge to upgrade, rehabilitate and modernize the abattoir, said Quitain.

He said the plan to privatize started when he was the city legal officer, but he opposed it, citing the BLDC had "insufficient capital" during their first attempt to apply.

"But over the years, it (BLDC) has grown. Capital wise, it has grown," Quitain said.

"The problem with the slaughterhouse has been with us for a long, long time. All the strategies, all the plans were made and implemented but there is a difficulty with the operations of the slaughterhouse," he said.

Should the request gets nod from the councilors, the city's slaughterhouse will be the pilot project under the PPP ordinance.

"This will be the first time that we will have a government enterprise that will be privatized," Quitain said.

The first district councilor said the city will be "saving a lot of expenses" as the BLDC will man the operations and pay for the salary of the employees.

Also, he said both the City Government and the BLDC will generate from the collection fees of the slaughterhouse.

The BLDC and the city, with 60-40 percent sharing, respectively, will divide the corral and slaughter fees, while the amounts collected from the post-mortem, ante-mortem and other charges shall be for the City Government of Davao, according to the councilor.

"Ang basehanan will be gross receipts. The cost and expenses of operating the slaughterhouse will be for the exclusive account of the BLDC," Quitain said.

Another problem related to the request for legislative authority, he said, is the workers detailed in the slaughterhouse.

"I understand that some of them will be absorbed by the company. I don't know how the absorption will work. Does it mean that they would have to resign from the city and work with that company or what," Quitain said. "The term absorption alone is not clear. That has to be clarified for the benefit of the employees."

At present, he said there are around 22 plantilla workers and 23 job orders in the slaughterhouse.

The City Council was able to tackle the terms and conditions of the memorandum last Tuesday, January 15. The request for legislative authority was approved, under first reading, on November 13, 2012.

The council members will continue to discuss with Lawyer Osmundo P. Villanueva Jr., acting city legal officer; Jose Elmario P. Guintadcan of City Economic Enterprise Management; and Lawyer Marilou D. Aldevera of the BLDC the terms and conditions of the memorandum during the next regular session on January 22. (ANC)