In Batangas, dog meat trade is a door-to-door business

PADRE GARCIA, Batangas — Despite being illegal, the trade in dog meat is growing so fast that dog traders are now going door-to-door looking for canines to buy.

Dog meat traders now hire tricycle drivers to go from house to house shouting "Aso! Aso kayo diyan, may ibebenta kayong aso d’yan (Dogs! Have you got dogs to sell)?"

One dog trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they transport 800 to 1,000 dogs a month to Baguio City and Tarlac, Pangasinan and the Cordilleras to supply about 100 eateries and restaurants that openly serve dog meat.

Because of the tremendous demand for dog meat, dog traders have resorted to hiring tricycle drivers as their "agents" and procure dogs for slaughter by going house to house throughout Batangas province. Sometimes they go as far as the neighboring provinces of Laguna and Quezon.

"When we were just starting this business, we only had two tricycles to go around town to buy dogs," the trader said. "Now we use at least 10 tricycles a day to cover almost all towns of Batangas and even reach as far as Laguna and Quezon."

Each tricycle driver is given P1,000 as capital with which to buy dogs. The going rate is P50 to P175, depending on the size of the dogs. At the end of the day, they turn the dogs and the remaining capital in to their financiers, after taking their commissions of P40 to P50 per dog.

Once bought, the dogs are classified into two groups: the dogs to be slaughtered for local consumption and the "viaje (journey)" dogs that will be transported tp Baguio and the northern provinces.

The "locals" will be delivered to eateries and restaurants in Batangas, particularly in the towns of Ibaan, Rosario, Padre Garcia , and San Juan.

Illegal

The trade in dog meat was made illegal by the enactment of Republic Act 8485, also known as the Animal Welfare Act, which criminalizes cruelty to animals and covers the slaughter of dogs for food.

Despite the law against it, the trade in dog meat is brisk — a situation that exists because of poor implementation of the Animal Welfare Act, studies have shown.

There is no political will to enforce this law, particularly in prosecuting those who engage in the illegal dog meat trade because many top local officials are dog-eaters themselves.

The International Wildlife Coalition (IWC) tapped the services of the a non-government organization Linis Gobeyrno and its cooperation resulted in raids on two illegal dog slaughterhouses and the arrests of eight violators of RA 8485.

One dog meat trader said, "before, they were strict (in implementing the law), but now, we can, very openly, buy and transport dogs to Baguio and Tarlac."

In the town of Tuba, Benguet Friday, police intercepted a shipment of 60 live dogs from Batangas City. The dogs were due for delivery to a clandestine slaughterhouse in Benguet and two men, Gregorio Alegria and Pastor Andal of Padre Garcia, Batangas were arrested for violation of the Animal Welfare Act.

Nuisance Dogs

In an interview with The STAR, on politician in this town, who asked not to be named, spoke of the positive effects of the trade in dog meat.

"Try to visit the San Lazaro hospital and the RITM (Research Institute of Tropical Medicine) in Alabang - you can see there patients in grueling pain and suffering before their die. All those are afflicted with rabies because of dog bites," the politician said.

Dogs, the politician noted "multiply so fast that even dog owners cannot afford to feed them anymore. The owners’ tendency is to leave their dogs to scavenge for food in the trash cans."

He also admitted that the local government has failed to implement an ordinance prohibiting dog owners from allowing their pets to loiter on the streets. The same ordinance also calls for the removal of stray dogs.

"If these dogs weren’t wandering about the streets, the residents here wouldn’t think of selling dogs," he said. "These dogs are a nuisance, that is why residents sell them."

Although he is a pet lover, the politician drew the line between pets and street dogs. "If you have a pet, will you leave it to dig through garbage and wander the streets? If (the answer is) yes, that dog is not a pet and you may as well sell it and give other people work."

He added that "dogs have the natural gift of finding a mate who is in heat, even a hundred meters away from them, that’s why they multiply so fast. If we cannot control their population growth, how could you imagine hundreds of dogs loitering on your streets, scavenging all the trash cans they can see?"

Aling Tessie and her husband were able to send their nine children to reputable schools, thanks to dog meat. They have been selling kalderetang aso for almost 29 years now out of a small cart parked along the sidewalk beside a tricycle terminal in Ibaan town.

Aling Tessie can net up to P1,000 daily after selling 10 kilos of kaldereta at P20 per serving.

Her business is so brisk that, for 30 minutes during The STAR’s interview, there was an uninterrupted flow of customers arriving to eat and leaving Aling Tessie’s stall.

Aling Tessie said she opens for business at 2 p.m. and closes shop at 4 or 5 p.m.

She said her conscience is not bothered by the slaughter of dogs, "(dogs are) not sentient, killing them is just like killing pigs." But, she added that "if that had been our pet, we might be unable to slaughter it."

Aling Tessie’s cook, Mang Angel, slaughters 10 to 15 dogs a week, but said "I am not ashamed about what I do for a living, because my income does not come from bad means."

Besides Aling Tessie’s stall, there are two more stalls in front of the town church that serve dog meat and their owners also say business is good, especially during the holidays.

"There are few stalls like ours, so business is good," one vendor said.

Aling Zeny, of Rosario town, said she started serving only one dog a day in 1997. Now at least six dogs are slaughtered daily to be served to her regular customers.