Halal, non-halal abattoirs launched in Davao City

DAVAO CITY—CITY government officials inaugurated on Friday two abattoirs, one of them Halal-certified already, adding more of these kind of facilities here.

The City Information Office (CIO) said it inaugurated the Malagos Double Abattoir with cold storage and meat cutting facilities and the Halal slaughterhouse.

“Today’s blessing and ribbon cutting of the Malagos Double A [abattoir] with cold storage and meat cutting facilities and Halal slaughterhouse is a realization of our dream of putting up a facility that caters to the pressing need of our prospective customers for an excellent slaughtering that conforms to the standard set by the National Meat Inspection Services [NMIS],” said Davao City Economic Enterprise Officer in Charge Maximo Macalipes Jr.

Macalipes said he “is truly grateful for the approval of the project and the necessary support such as the financial aspect of the worldclass slaughterhouse that will be operating soon.”

He said the Manual of Operation for the two slaughterhouses was already done and awaits approval from the Malagos Slaughterhouse Management Board.

The construction of the slaughterhouses were funded by the Department of Agriculture under the National Livestock Program, Department of Agriculture (DA) XI Program, and the city government.

The non-halal abbatoir was worth P80 million sourced from the DA National Livestock Program. The Halal abbatoir was built from the P5million fund from the DA XI Bottomup-budgeting (BUB) and P1 million from the city government.

Another P7.7 million was allocated by the city government for the additional equipment.

Earlier, Slaughter House Master IV Engr. Joseph Gabut said the operation of the slaughterhouses would be advantageous for the poultry and livestock raisers in Calinan, Mintal and the Toril public markets, the areas near the slaughterhouse. The Halal slaughterhouse would provide additional market for vendors because even Muslim clients will patronize them once their meat is certified Halal.

The cold storage, the blast freezers, and the meat processing plant are additional features of the non-halal slaughterhouse would also be to the advantage of clients “because these would help them easily process and preserve food for a wider market reach. The meat processing facility with meat grinders can also cater to a commercial size outputs.”

With cold storage facility attached to the slaughterhouses, “the clients can market their products outside Davao City and throughout the Philippines.”

The CIO said the rates and charges for the slaughter and corral fees for the slaughterhouses would be based on Article 12, Section 383, Ordinance No. 0291-17 Series of 2017 or “An Ordinance Amending the 2005 Revenue Code of the City, otherwise known as the 2017 Revenue Code of Davao.