THE Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) has proposed a P17 million budget for 2025 to bolster its efforts in combating rabies, according to an official.
The amount represents 17.35 percent of the DVMF’s proposed P98 million departmental budget for inclusion in the 2025 Annual Budget.
With the department’s increased income this year, DVMF head Alice Utlang stressed the need for a larger 2025 budget to strengthen the city’s fight against rabies.
“We can ask for more budget, kay naa man mi income (because our income is increasing), so that we can serve more. Our goal next year is to have all dogs ma-microchip (microchipped),” she said.
Rabies budget
Of the proposed P17 million budget for the rabies campaign, P5 million is earmarked for building a shelter specifically for microchipped cats and dogs.
She said a location in Barangay Guba has already been identified for this purpose.
“We will also allocate a significant portion of the budget towards supplies,” Utlang said.
The remaining P12 million will be used primarily for veterinary supplies, including rabies vaccines, spaying and neutering materials, and livestock medicines. The city has already received P5 million for vaccine supplies this year.
“With the shelter and microchipping, it is easy to monitor the vaccinated dogs. The shelter will keep us on track with the microchipped dogs while increasing the budget for rabies vaccine and supplies for spay and neuter. This will allow us to spay and neuter more animals and microchip all the dogs,” stressed Utlang in Cebuano.
In a previous report by SunStar Cebu on June 17, Cebu City has already recorded 17 rabies cases in the first half of 2024; the city logged 17 total rabies cases in the entire 2023.
Increased income
In July, the DVMF reported an eight increase in revenue compared to the same month last year, according to a post on the Cebu City Public Information Page on Saturday, Aug. 24.
The DVMF’s accomplishment report shows that the department collected P2,283,381.30 in July 2024, which is P166,733.87 more than the P2,116,647.43 collected in July 2023.
This increase is attributed to collections from regulatory fees, private slaughterhouses, registration and licensing fees, penalties for violations of City Ordinance 2189 (Revised Meat for Public Consumption Regulatory Ordinance), and fees for the registration and redemption of impounded animals.
From January to June this year, the DVMF recorded an estimated collection of P12,660,089.93, which is an increase from P12,045,912.23 collected during the same period in 2022. The DVMF collected a total of P11,873,773.83 for the same period in 2023. / CDF