National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) personnel raided a canteen that allegedly sells dog meat in Mapandan, Pangasinan.
According to the Unang Balit report, the authorities arrested the owner of the said canteen, Reah Ellasus.
Two heads, meat, and various dog dishes were confiscated during the operation. It was found out that the suspect had previously been detained for this, so the NBI has been monitoring her canteen for a long time.
The suspect was temporarily released after posting bail. But, she explained to the NBI, she only did it because of the hardships of life. In addition, the dog meat is said to be cheaper, and her customers prefer them.
Asocena is a Filipino dish primarily consisting of dog meat. The term asocena was first used in the 1980s and became famous when a film entitled Azucena, written by Enrique Ramos and directed by Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, was screened in 2000.
Canteen owner arrested for selling cooked dog meat
According to Animal Welfare Institute, “Hundreds of thousands of dogs are slaughtered for meat each year in the Philippines.6 The dog meat trade is primarily centered in the city of Baguio, in the northern Luzon Island province of Benguet. Historically, it was associated with celebratory events and rituals of mourning and only affected a small number of dogs. However, in recent decades, the dog meat trade has rapidly increased for commercial rather than cultural reasons.”
The Anti-Rabies Act (RA 9482), passed in 2007, includes more severe penalties, with minimum fines of 5,000 pesos per dog and not less than one year of imprisonment for trading in dogs for meat. However, despite the sanctions encoded in the law, law enforcement officials do little to stop this illegal trade.
RA 8485 also aims to protect and promote the welfare of all animals in the Philippines by supervising and regulating the establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating, or training of all animals either as objects of trade or as household pets.
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