City to provide sidewalk vendors scheme, options
A week after their stalls were dismantled, ambulant vendors asked the City Government to allow them to go back to the streets of Ceniza, Zamora and Gomez while “there is no clear plan and program yet for the affected vendors.”
Informal vendors gathered in front of the City Hall yesterday and forwarded a three-page petition signed by 221 members of the Mandaue City Sidewalk Vendors’ Association to the offices of the mayor and vice mayor.
However, the City Government officials explained to them that they cannot just allow them to go back considering that there is an ordinance that roads and sidewalks should be clear of any obstruction.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna met the informal vendors and discussed why the City had to clear the streets.
Fortuna said he was glad that the vendors understood the reason the City cleared the roads last week.
He said the city center has a lot of pedestrians daily and that the City did it to enhance the traffic flow in Barangay Centro.
Fortuna assured them that the City will assist and enroll them in a micro-business enterprise, but asked them to look for a property where they can put up their stalls.
City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing issued an order last week that there will no longer be encroachments on the sidewalks and roads to address traffic in the area, according to the vice mayor.
“What is clear is that there will no longer be any sidewalk vending in Mandaue,” said Fortuna.
In the ambulant vendors’ petition, they expressed that they are open to a compromise agreements with the City Government.
They asked that they will allowed to sell from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. or 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily and whole-day vending during weekends and holidays along Ceniza, Zamora and Gomez Sts. They also asked for a specialized market scheme like a night market.
They also proposed that a public consultation must be done with vendors and officials concerned as there was allegedly no consultation when a notice of clearing was issued before the demolition.
In a press conference, lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan, chief of staff of the city mayor, said the vendors earlier asked that they will just move out from the area by December and it was granted.
Aside from this, Bathan said, the informal vendors were met by the City officials and informed about the City’s plan to clear the streets and were given enough time for them to prepare before the demolition.
“The mayor clearly wants to relay and we have relayed this. In fact, the mayor just asked the vendors to clear or wala ni sila
gi- demolish (they were not demolished) without fair warning, without maximum allowance and tolerance for them to continue to stay on and without notifying them,” said Bathan.
“We also have to give importance to our legitimate and legal vendors,” she added.