THE City Veterinarian’s Office (CVO) said it is planning to build a new facility for the Davao City Animal Disease Diagnosis Laboratory to accommodate its new equipment.
Dr. Gay Z. Pallar, CVO acting department head, said the new facility aims to house the Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) machine and an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (Elisa) system.
The RT-PCR machine is an automated extraction system that enables the CVO to amplify and analyze small deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or ribonucleic acid (RNA) segments, allowing for precise detection of pathogens such as the African Swine Fever (ASF) virus.
Meanwhile, the Elisa system helps identify and measure specific antibodies or antigens, aiding in the diagnosis of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.
She added that the City Government of Davao is the only local government unit in Mindanao that has these two types of machines.
“Gisuportahan sa atoang gobyerno, ang LGU nato, nga makapalit ta og atoang kaugalingon ug through this pud makakuha og revenue kay pwede man ta mo-accept from other provinces and other cities,” she said in a radio interview on Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR), on Friday, August 22, 2025.
(This is supported by our government, our LGU, to purchase our own, and through this, we can also generate additional revenue since we can accept requests from other provinces and cities).
Pallar said that initially, the machines were to be housed in Maa; however, the area is still being used. Hence, they are looking into another site. She said that they have already identified the site for the construction of the facility in the Malagos Compound, near the city pound.
“Hinaot unta before mag-end ang 2025, makasugod na og construction didto sa atoang new site for the laboratory facility (Hopefully, before 2025 ends, construction can already begin at our new site for the laboratory facility),” she said.
Pallar expressed that with the new machines, Davao City would no longer need to wait to confirm if an animal is affected by a disease. With the RT-PCR and Elisa equipment, it can now handle the confirmatory tests. RGP with reports from CIO