University of the Philippines Manila Padre Faura, Manila Asocena: The Case of Illegal Dog Meat Trade in Baguio City An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to The Department of Social Sciences in partial fulfilment Of the course requirements in Political Science 198 For the Degree of BA Political Science Prof. Jalton G. Taguibao Thesis Adviser Presented by Mirriam Andrea V. de Lemos 2005-44766 March 2009 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRO A. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ---------------------------------------------------------1 B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ----------------------------------------------------3 D. SIGNIFICANACE OF THE STUDY ---------------------------------------------------3 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE -------------------------------------------------------4 III. METHODOLOGY A. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK -------------------------------------------19 B. METHODOLOGY a. RESEARCH DESIGN ---------------------------------------------- 22 b. DATA ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------- 24 c. DATA VALIDATION --------------------------------------------- 24 C. SCOPE AND LIMITATION-------------------------------------------------25 D. ETHICS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 26 E. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK -------------------------------------------26 IV. DATA PRESENTATION A. DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE ----------------------------------------------------- 29 B. DOG MEAT PRICES IN RESTAURANTS ----------------------------------- 30 C. OPEN AND AXIAL CODING -------------------------------------------------- 32 D. ANALYTIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 105 2 V. SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS -------------------------------------------------------136 VI. RECOMMENDATION ----------------------------------------------------------------144 VII. REFLECTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 145 VIII. APPENDIX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 147 3 ASOCENA: The case of illegal dog meat trade in Baguio City Rationale of the Study Man is not the only living organism in the planet; there are also plants and animals that cohabitate with them. Man is said to be superior to plants and animals for their rational faculty and capacity to experience pain as well as pleasure. The latter has no voice to speak for them and rely on humans for their protection. As opposed to anthropocentrism which suggests that the world exists for humanity, its critics contend that animals have feelings and action towards animals must bear a certain degree of morality. Such contention gave rise to the extension of rights to animals. Correspondingly to the declaration of Human rights, Animal rights also exist, whose purpose is to promote and protect the welfare of all animals. Though it exists and is materialized through Republic Act 8485, the practice on the ethical treatment of animals in the Philippines isn’t properly observed. The Humane Society of the US said on its 2004 Animal Cruelty/ Human Violence Awareness Week, “With disturbing headlines about domestic violence so often in the news, it's not difficult to understand the damaging situations victims of family violence frequently face. People may not realize that pets in violent homes are often hurt, too. Animals in these situations are silent victims, who may be threatened, injured or killed by a violent family member to control or intimidate other members of the household. Just like other family members, animals need a safe haven.” The HSUS take steps in promoting animal cruelty awareness. Animals like humans are sentient beings and can feel pain, there are various documentaries which show that several slaughterhouses in the country don’t comply with the international standard of killing animals, a great deal of animals being hit by cars, juveniles 4 torturing animals, the practice of eating dog meat in provinces, use of animals for laboratory researches. The cruelty towards animals has not been given much importance in the field of political science wherein the main focus analyses are individuals. Animals whose rights have been neglected in place of human interest have been the inspiration of this paper. As Lawrence Becker’s “The Priority of Human Interest” assert, “the argument is simply this: There are certain traits of character that people ought to have- traits constitutive of moral excellence of virtue. Some of these traits order preferences by “social distance” – that is, give priority to the interests of those “closer” to us in social relationships over the interests of those farther away. Animals are typically “farther away” from us than human beings. Thus, to hold, as a consequence, that people ought (typically) to give priority to the interests of the members of their own species.” The study aims to seek resolution why there exists a rampant and ongoing dog meat trade as depicted in the news ,local newspapers, websites of domestic as well as foreign animal rightist organizations and existing restaurants in Baguio City that still continue to serve dog meat [despite the existence of many laws in the country such as the Animal Welfare Act (Republic Act 8485), Anti Rabies Act of 2007 (Republic Act 9482)] and Metro Manila Commission Ordinance No. 82-02 entitled “Prohibiting the killing, selling, or offering for sale of any dog for food, the storing or offering of dog meat for sale within Metro Manila, the transporting of dogs and/or dog meat to and from Metro Manila, providing penalties for violation thereof and for other purposes.” What may have once been only a cultural practice of eating dog meat has grown into a commercial industry in the country. 5 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM General: to identify why Igorots and non- Igorots continue to eat dog meat despite the existence of laws that condone such practice. Specific: 1. To identify the laws prohibiting the dog meat trade in the country. 2. To identify the rituals that use dog meat as well as the reasons on why dog meat in particular is being used. 3. To know why Non- Igorots eat dog meat. 4. To measure the effectiveness of the implementation of law prohibiting dog meat trade. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study documented the use of dogs in Igorot rituals, the culture of dog meat eating in Baguio city. This topic though oftenly seen in documentaries have not been much given attention by writers. In fact, there is no published book regarding the dog meat trade in Baguio city nor an undergraduate thesis regarding it. As my Igorot respondent have said in my interview regarding the existing literature in dog meat trade, “Unwritten naman kasi lahat…tulad niyan ikaw na ang sumunod, chance mo na yan… kasi wlang concrete talaga.”. This research will be the first documented literarure regarding dog meat trade. It will help people who are interested to learn about the Igorot culture in relation with dog rituals and dog meat consumption, without having the need to go to Baguio city. 6 Review of Related literature Written accounts regarding the practice of dog meat eating in the Philippines are non-existent, there are only documentaries but not written literature and due to this, the researcher decided to include works though not directly about the practice of dog meat eating but is related to the research topic such as: The historical basis on the exposition of dog meat eating practice in the Philippines in the international community was discussed here in detail. Others trace the history of the emergence of animal rights and the influence of the church in the formation of such beliefs, other cultural practices of the Indigenous People which were accepted before the Spanish colonization such as the Ilongot headhunting, but is presently considered as taboo and immoral parallel to the status of the practice of dog meat eating, the different laws that prohibit the trade for dog meat and lastly, the culture of India in its protection of the “Holy Cow” as enshrined by the law which is related in the research topic in the sense that the cultural belief of the Hindu majority in the sacredness of cows were protected as enacted by the law that prohibit its slaughtering unlike the case of dog meat wherein the Igorots were deprived of their long held practice and culture of eating dog meat, manifested by the creation of laws that prohibit the trade and ‘consumption’ (implicitly stated in the law) of dog meat. The first time that the Igorot culture of dog meat eating was exposed internationally was perhaps during the 1904 St. Louis World Fair, officially know as the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held at the state of Louisiana in the United States of America to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the purchase of Louisiana from France by the United States. At that time the United States itself was not geographically large, Louisiana comprised nearly one-third of the terrain (Pilapil, 1992). The fair was a phenomenal display of showmanship, internationalism, and technology; paying customers witnessed an array of glamorous architecture, new-fangled 7 cuisines and miscellaneous carnival festivities. It lasted for seven months, starting in April until December 1, 1904, with all territories and states participating, together with 45 countries and 50 tribes from all over the world. The fair took six years to build with 20,000 workers on the 1,275 acres of fairgrounds and cost around 15 million for its construction. During the first six months, there were 3.5 million publicities in the first six months with over 52,706 journalists