Six held in crackdown against dog meat trade in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Six people in this northern highland city resort face criminal charges following their arrest on Sunday for engaging in dog meat trade, officials said on Monday. Armed with the “sharpened teeth" of the new Anti-Rabies Law, a joint team of National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) headed by Dr. Florentino Pintor,.athe London-based Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF), and police operatives swooped rounded up the six suspects during a raid Sunday night at the Baguio public market. Seized during the raid were 258 kilograms of dog meat and 20 already “dressed" dogs. Pintor said the meat were brought to the NMIS compound along Marcos Highway in Tuba town of Benguet for disposal. Senior Police Officer 4 Rizal Malicsi, head of the Cordillera police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Cordillera contingent of the raiding team, identified the suspected illegal traders as Bryan Angala, 19; and Jovelita Corpus,42; Pio Montano, 38; and Nelson Patacsil, 25; all Baguio public market retailers. The others were Rosalie Selga, 33, a wholesaler from nearby Rosario town in La Union province, and her driver Daniel Flores. The duo were caught red-handed while selling “dressed" dog meat to the retailers, officials said. Under the law, the crime is punishable by 1-4 years in prison and P5,000 penalty for each dog seized. At least seven already dressed dogs were seized from Montano and Pacasil, four from Angala and three from Corpuz, said Malicsi. Twenty “dressed" dogs were seized from Angala and Flores. Brando Gegway, AKF–Luzon senior investigative researcher, said it was the first time in the Philippines that someone has been arrested for violating the Anti-Rabies Law (R.A 9482), which has stiffer penalties. "Compared to the Animal Welfare law or R.A. 8485, this new law imposes stiffer penalties under Section 11 that states that all person found guilty of trading dog meat will be fined P5,000. per dog and imprisoned for one to four years," Gegway said. Gegway said the arrests are a test case of the new law’s sharpened teeth. He noted that violators did not take the old Animal Welfare Act (RA 8485) seriously because the penalty was only P1,000 and no more than P6,000 per offense and not per dog seized. Gegway also said his group “planned to stage the test case in Baguio to challenge the political will of Baguio City officials because until now, the dog meat trade is still very rampant inside the Baguio public market." "Hopefully this (new law with stiffer penalties) will end the practice in the Cordillera," he said. According to Gegway, at least a dozen restaurants in Baguio and Benguet serve dog meat as main dish and the supply from the lowlands have reached about P480,000 worth of dog meat each month. The NMIS said dogs are not categorized as food animals, thus the trade is outlawed in the country. Gegway, who traces his roots to Besao town in nearby Mountain Province, said his group’s campaign against dog meat sale is not meant to challenge the Cordillera culture where most people insist that eating dog meat is a tradition. “Its all about protecting the peoples health due to the high risk of rabies that can be taken from eating dog meats," he said. - GMANews.TV