Buses bring 'hot meat' to Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Tons of double-dead or “hot” meat are now brought to Metro Manila markets using passenger buses to avoid confiscation by police officers who usually focus on private delivery vehicles, an official said yesterday.

Because of this, law enforcement agencies will set up a checkpoint in front of the Cloverleaf Market in Balintawak, Quezon City to specifically check whether buses entering the city from the North Luzon Expressway are carrying these meat products, said Superintendent Norberto Babagay, commander of the Quezon City Police District-Station 1.

“The bus drivers and operators could also do their part by checking on the packages being loaded onto their vehicles,” Babagay said in an interview.

Babagay’s pronouncement came after his men seized nearly two tons of double-dead meat products at past 10 p.m. on Wednesday. “Our informants told us about several sacks of meat products delivered last night. When our policemen arrived in the area, the products had been abandoned by the stall owners,” the police official said.

Babagay said their informants said the meat products were brought down from a passenger bus that apparently delivered and carried the products from the province.

“Their style now is not to use pickup trucks, with traders thinking that the risk that these products would be intercepted would be less,” he added.

Babagay noted that some bus drivers or conductors no longer care what type of items are loaded onto their vehicles as long as a passenger pays his or her fare.

He said most of the meat products they seized had been put in plastic wrappers, sacks, and boxes to conceal them during transport.

Babagay said two sacks contained meat that had been boiled, probably to prevent the meat from rotting further.

After the seizure, the police official ordered the meat products to be dumped and burned in Payatas.