DA diagnostic lab assured lot in city

CEBU, Philippines - Even if Capitol officials have ordered the Department of Agriculture to abandon their present location in the province-owned lot along M. Velez Street not later than January 31, the DA’s diagnostic laboratory will be retained in the city after Mayor Tomas Osmeña decided to provide them a space at the North Reclamation Area.

City veterinarian Alice Utlang was the one who lobbied to the mayor that the personnel manning the DA’s diagnostic laboratory will just be allowed to occupy a vacant city-owned building at the Sewage Treatment Plant, just adjacent to the city’s slaughterhouse.

“Importante g’yod kaayo nga ania ra sa dakbayan ang diagnostic laboratory sa Department of Agriculture kay gikinahanglan nato kini pag-examine kon ang usa ka iro duna bay rabies. Kon mobalhin na sila sa Argao layo na kaayo ang pag-adto,” Utlang said.

While Osmeña allowed the personnel of the DA’s diagnostic laboratory to be retained in the city, he has no similar plan for other personnel of the department.

Utlang explained that whenever a person is bitten by a dog and the animal dies there is a need for the head of the dog to be examined to determine if it really had rabies. She said not all dogs that die after they bit a person have rabies.

The city veterinarian happily announced that there was no human rabies reported in Cebu City last year that is why they are also intensifying the drive against stray dogs. —Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (FREEMAN NEWS)