LOCAL BUTCHERS are called “matansero.” The slaughterhouse is their workplace. Edilberto Trinidad a.k.a. Tatay Kulot has spent all his life as a proud matansero. His right hand men are his three young sons. Tatay Kulot also manages a group of matanseros who process at least twenty heads of pig a night. Sandra Aguinaldo spends a day learning and trying life inside the slaughterhouse. Ruel Compio works for an abbatoir in Bulacan. After seven years, he has been able to send three nephews to school. The slaughterhouse he works for is not accredited by the National Meat Inspection Service or NMIS, but it is sanctioned by the local government. There is no water supply, the river is the most convenient dumping area and there are no proper gears for Ruel and his peers. Follow the hands that prepare the meat that end up on our plates.
