Solon wants stiffer penalties for ‘botcha’ traders, vendors

Traders and vendors caught selling “botcha" or double-dead meat in wet markets should face stiffer fines and longer terms in prison, Senator Francis Pangilinan said Tuesday. Pangilinan, who is also the Senate committee chair on agriculture and food, is proposing to jack up the fine for selling “botcha" to P50,000 to P200,000 from the current P1,000 to P5,000. He also wants to lengthen the prison term for selling double-dead meat to six to 12 years from the current six months. “We think that these penalties are appropriate for this crime as lives are being endangered here with this unscrupulous practice," the senator explained. In November last year, Pangilinan filed Senate Bill No. 2612, which seeks to amend the Philippines’ Meat Inspection Code, prescribing the penalties mentioned. He said the stricter penalties will give authorities the needed “teeth" to curb the trading of double-dead meat. “It’s about time to make dishonest merchants and individuals pay for their crime. Their acts put in peril the lives of consumers," he said. Another lawmaker, Senator Manuel Villar, in March also called for an intensified government campaign against double-dead meat. “Our task is to recommend the enactment of a concrete policy that will bridge the gaps in existing laws including proper labeling and massive information campaign that should be undertaken to combat botcha meat," Villar said at a Senate hearing on proposed measures covering meat products. In the latest development in the campaign against double-dead meat, Manila veterinary city operatives seized some 400 kilos of “botcha" from a pedicab before dawn Monday. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/231448/nation/400-kilos-tainted-pork-seized-in-manila
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV A report on radio dzBB said some of the meat already smelled badly, while some were cut into “menudo-sized" portions and mixed with fresh meat sold in the market. — With Paterno Esmaquel II/VS, GMA News