Series 58: At a La Loma Slaughterhouse

Start of Series 58: At a La Loma Slaughterhouse

La Loma in Quezon City is known as the lechon (roast pig) capital of Metro Manila. In one section of the locality, a few meters from the entrance to the biggest cemetery in the country, North Cemetery, one can find several establishments dedicated to the slaughter, preparation, roasting of pigs and to some extent, serving in a restaurant setting.

There is no single abattoir for this but every night, a little past midnight or as early as 11 PM, the beating, slitting and poking starts at each establishment. It’s not for the faint of heart to observe such activity and during the early phase of the preparation, blood can splutter about. The sight of carnage might be overbearing and for one doing this short documentation, I just have to bear it keeping myself busy shooting three men going about their work in a very humid, hot but, surprisingly clean environment.

Depending on the number of animals or day of the week, Friday is the busiest, the work can be finished as short as three hours or until dawn. Each prepared animal is roasted over hot coals within the vicinity and by morning, the end product, lechon, is ready for delivery around the metro or served with rice, liver sauce and softdrinks.

This series consists of eight black and white shots, no red blood here, focusing on the preparation only. My gratitude to Eric Lacson for refering me to this area.

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Stock photography by Stanley+Cabigas at Alamy

NOTE: Photo/s are the work of the author and are copyright. Hi-res images are available upon request. Contact me if you need to use any of these or browse my stockphotos at Alamy.