A TOTAL of 160.10 kilograms of illegally-slaughtered meat were seized by the Task Force Botagoy in various public markets in Bacolod City from January to February 22.
Rex Juplo, head of Task Force Botagoy, said Tuesday the "hot meat" were confiscated from five stall owners in Barangays Granada, Sum-ag, and Singcang-Airport.
He said the confiscated pork meat sold at P200 per kilogram had a total cost of P32,020.
The illegal meat did not undergo inspection in the city's AVM Bernardo slaughterhouse. The confiscated meat were burned and buried at the city's slaughterhouse grounds
Juplo said they will file a case against the meat owners after they have committed the offense three times.
The meat vendors may face charges for violation of City Ordinance 459.
From November 28 to December 31 last year, the task force confiscated total of 519.445 kilograms of illegally-slaughtered meat in various public markets.
These were seized from 11 stall owners in the markets of Barangays 35, Granada, Sum-ag, Bata, Mandalagan, Singcang-Airport, and Burgos Public Market.
Juplo said the names of the violators were already forwarded to the City Legal Office for the filing of charges.
As a result of the task force's massive operations, the production of the city's slaughterhouse also increased, Juplo said.
In the fourth quarter of 2016, AVM Bernardo slaughtered a total 36,031 heads of animals, or a total of 2,975,619.0 kilograms compared to only 32,493 heads of animals, or the total of 2,727,744 kilograms in 2015.
"We will continue our monitoring to arrest erring meat vendors and to stop the illegal slaughtering for the health benefits of the consumers," Juplo said.