Rama willing to accept Sunpride offer on abattoir but.

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Michael Rama is willing to accept the offer of Sunpride Foods Incorporated for the construction of a modern abattoir worth P200 million along the North Reclamation Area (NRA) on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) scheme where the ownership will be turned over to the city after an agreed period of years.

But while Rama described it as a good offer, he said Sunpride Foods Inc. president Stephen Castillo’s proposal of 50 years for the BOT is too long.

The mayor is not amenable to Castillo’s suggestion that once the city will accept their offer and the construction of the new modern abattoir will be completed, the slaughtering of food animals in the city should be centralized only to their abattoir.

Rama said he is not favor of Castillo’s suggestion because it would mean that the private slaughterhouses in Cebu City will no longer be allowed to operate and it will affect so many people who will lose their livelihood.

Castillo explained that having only one abattoir would be advantageous because it would be easy for the city to monitor the environmental compliance with only one slaughterhouse to accommodate the needs of the people in Cebu City.

According to Castillo, the abattoir that SFI will construct in Cebu City is capable of slaughtering at least 160 hogs or 30 cattles or 60 goats in an hour.

The SFI official said the abattoir that they are planning to build will also prepare Halal meat, specifically for Muslims, by complying with what the Muslim procedures prescribe.

“Sigurado nga ang mga igsoon nato nga Muslim malipay pa niini kay among nahibaw-an nga nagkaproblema gani sila kon asa mokuha og mga karne nga ang pag-ihaw gibasi sa paagi sa mga Muslim, (Our Muslim brothers will surely be happy over this because we found out that they were concerned about where to get meat that were prepared based on the Muslim procedure.)” said Castillo.

The abattoir that SFI is planning to construct in the city will be much bigger and more modern compared to their slaughterhouse in General Santos City which has been recognized as the best abattoir all over the country because of its modern equipment.

City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete said they will evaluate the offer of SFI to find out whether it is advantageous for the city to accept it.

The city’s existing slaughterhouse at the North Reclamation Area is no longer accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) because its equipment are already dilapidated. Meat products that are butchered from unaccredited abattoirs cannot be transported to other places.  (FREEMAN)