THE Municipal Council approved on first reading the proposed ordinance regulating the operation of slaughterhouses in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Authored by councilor Renato Tereng, the proposed ordinance is directed to the establishment, management and operations of abattoir/slaughterhouse in the municipality and providing penalty among others.
Tereng said there is a need to establish the ordinance to ensure the quality and safety of meat products being produced in the municipality.
The alderman added the proposed ordinance will provide guidelines needed as stated under Republic Act (RA) 9296, or the Meat Inspection Code of the Philippines as amended by RA 10536.
"We need this because as of now the LGU does not have any power over the abattoir in the municipality, the only solution there is to create a law which we can use to oversee them," said Tereng, who chairs the committee on agriculture.
In the proposal, the LGU will also be requiring regular inspection for fresh and processed meat production.
"We should monitor the process, if we don’t baka tayo na rin pala ang isa sa mga source ng hot meat na binebenta sa market," Tereng added.
La Trinidad does not have a municipal owned slaughterhouse but there are two privately owned abattoir accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) located in Bahong and Shilan.
Tereng said around 200 pigs, cows, goats and other livestock are being processed per day, which supplies the whole municipality including the nearby places like Tublay and Baguio City.
According to Tereng, while they have their accreditation, they are not paying taxes to the LGU.
“Since walang ordinance, collection of taxes is hard to implement even if willing naman sila na mag-process,” the councilor added.
Tereng said there are two NMIS deputized meat inspectors in the municipality checking on the private slaughterhouses including those being operated backyard.
While the need for a public slaughterhouse has been called for the previous years, the Valley is looking for a possible site.
“We are currently finding available lot for this, so far sa Alno lang ang available pero with the distance and condition ng kalsada baka mahirapan ang mga magiging stakeholders,” Tereng closed.