Cockpit disguised as 'sports center'

“I think if you’re against cruelty, and you look at what happens to animals, in slaughterhouses and on factory farms, you have to be completely against eating meat.” INGRID NEWKIRK

By Alex P. Vidal

IF we want to know how healthy are the citizens living in one community, we must look at the sources of the foods they eat.  

One important source of food is the abattoir or the slaughterhouse where we get the meats and pork we regularly consume.

If our slaughterhouse is dirty and does not pass the standards set by our meat inspectors and other food agencies, there really is a reason to be worried about.

It’s a health disaster.

Any gains and success we possess in life will have no more bearing in the long run once we have a health problem.

Some experts believe that there is also a connection between what we eat, how we think and how it affects our lifestyle.

Reports that our slaughterhouse in Brgy. Taca, Jaro district, Iloilo City did not attain the “AA” classification according to a recent test conducted by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) were not only embarrassing but also alarming.

Meat inspectors also failed the NMIS test, it was reported further.

How long has this been going on?

Why were these concerns not discovered and addressed earlier?

If the NMIS did not conduct a test and evaluation and the public wasn’t warned, could we still be grappling with parasites left by the meats we eat inside our intestines?  

In a nutshell, this could only mean one thing: we have an unsanitary abattoir and the meats we consume are not safe.

-o0o-

SAN JOSE, Antique Mayor Rolly Molina should take full responsibility for the discovery that the Antique Sports Development Center in San Jose, Antique has been operating illegally as a cockpit.

Based on the activities discovered inside, it’s neither a mecca of sports development nor a youth-oriented training facility as what was trumpeted in the past.  

It’s a haven for “sabung” or “bulang” where gambling patrons place bets for two fighting cocks.

If we call spade a spade, it is disguised as a “sports center.”

No more passing the bucks.

Although the cockpit, owned by Virgilio “Biyong” Ong was approved during the term of Mayor Fernando Corvera in 2001, its presence within the parameters of a national high school and a provincial hospital is a clear violation of the Presidential Decree No. 449 or the Philippine Cockfighting Law as amended by P.D. 1974.

We understand Molina’s negligence or why he was “adamant” to cancel the cockpit’s permit.

Ong is reportedly a political benefactor of disqualified former Gov. Ezequiel Javier.

We are not saying here that Javier tolerated Ong’s illegal cockpit.

It was possible that no one from the municipal hall was gutsy enough to touch the cockpit with a ten foot pole during Javier’s heydays probably for fear of reprisal.

Now that Rhodora Cadiao is the Antique governor, Molina should show his constituents that he is not what they think.

The mayor should crack the whip and let the chips fall where they may.

-o0o-

THE coast of Baliguian Island in Concepcion, Iloilo continued to be the favorite hang out of illegal fishers from other regions.

Thanks to the vigilance of the Iloilo Provincial Bantay Dagat Task Force led by SPO1 Gilbert Piedad.

The task force has formally charged for violation of Republic Act 8550 or Unauthorized Fishing before the Municipal Trial Court of San Dionisio, Iloilo the eight fishermen from Bantayan Island, Cebu arrested recently for using super hulbot 12.46 kilometers off the coast of Baliguian Island.

Reports said they were using a sophisticated and very expensive fishing boat when elements of the Bantay Dagat Task Force collared them.

Despite the no nonsense campaign of the capitol, illegal fishing remains to be a huge problem in the coastal area of the Iloilo province.