Best option for proposed modern City abattoir studied

3 August 2021 – The city is currently studying the best option on how to implement the proposed multi-million city-owned abattoir and how to operate and manage the facility.

Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong requested the City Veterinary and Agriculture Office (CVAO) to inquire from their counterparts in other cities and provinces in the country that have their own successfully operated abattoirs the best possible option on the prosecution of the project and its eventual operation and management.

Earlier, the local government planned for the upgrading and rehabilitation of the existing abattoir by relocating it to a better area, such as within a portion of the 10-hectare property at the Baguio Dairy Farm that was ceded by the agriculture department to the city.

Based on a previous presentation by CVAO, the city needs more than P108 million for the put up of a modern abattoir that will include the mechanization of the operations as part of the upgrading of the slaughterhouse.

Among the options being considered by the local government in the put up of the modern abattoir include the possibility that the city will bankroll the put up of the facility and eventually operate or manage the same, or the city will provide the funds and implement the project and privatize its operation and management.

The city’s modern abattoir is one of the major city projects to be constructed within the property that was ceded by the agriculture department to the city at the Baguio Dairy Farm to provide adequate space for the facility to provide additional services in a much wider area compared to its present site right within the central business district area.

City Budget officer lawyer Leticia O. Clemente disclosed that the city has the funds to bankroll the put up of the proposed modern abattoir as the city’s local finance committee intends to realign funds previously earmarked for some unimplemented locally-funded projects to raise the required funding for the said project.

She proposed that the city fund the construction of the facility but privatize its operation and management depending on the recommendation of the CVAO.

However, the local chief executive stipulated it is still best for CVAO officials to confer with their counterparts in other cities and provinces that successfully put up and operated their own state-of-the-art abattoirs so they can make their own recommendations on how to undertake the project and operate and manage the facility once completed.

The city will be hiring additional personnel and will be procuring more units of equipment and vehicles once it decides to fully operate the modern slaughterhouse when completed which would mean increased appropriations for the allocations of the CVAO in their future budgets.

The proposed relocation of the city abattoir will allow it to expand its operations for better handling of meat products being sold in the city public market. – Dexter A. See