New ordinance penalizes ‘botcha’ sellers
TRADERS and vendors caught selling double-dead meat or fish, locally termed ‘botcha’, now face penalties under an ordinance passed last week by the Dagupan City council.
Under Ordinance No. 0-488, in addition to the outright confiscation of botcha items, violators will be made to pay a fine of P3,000 for the first offense, P5,000 for the second offense and P10,000 for the third offense, plus the cost of disposal of their banned items, one month community service or imprisonment depending on the discretion of the court.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod was prompted to pass the new law following the attempts of some traders to dump tons of botcha bangus from the recent fishkill in the towns of Anda and Bolinao in the city’s fish markets.
News of the arrival of botcha bangus and attempts to mix these with the fresh catch created a stir in the fish markets and quickly resulted in a sudden drop in the sale and demand for bangus regardless of source, including Dagupan fishponds.
Councilor Jesus Canto, committee chairman on health and sanitation, said previous efforts of the city government to stop the entry of double-dead meat always proved futile because authorities could only confiscate the products and traders were not penalized.
Members of the consignacion (wholesalers), fish vendors and meat vendors, and representatives of consumers endorsed the proposed measure during a committee hearing called by Canto and Councilor Redford Erfe-Mejia.
Canto said Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, who was acting mayor at the time of the fishkill incident, also endorsed the ordinance after making a round of the fish markets during which she saw botcha fish being mixed with fresh ones and sold at regular prices.
Unscrupulous traders were also found applying red dye (dyobos) on the gills of botcha fish to make these look fresh and deliberately removing the eyes of the fish that readily reveals the state of the fish being sold.
Canto said the police, City Health Office, City Agriculture Office, and the POSO (Public Order and Safety Office) can begin to round up and arrest the botcha traders and vendors with this new ordinance.–LM (with a report from PIA-Pangasinan)
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