Entrance fee of some goods in public markets lowered
Thousands of vendors and buyers at the Carbon Public Market and other satellite markets in Cebu City are getting an early Christmas gift.
This, after the City Council lowered the entrance fee of several commodities, including rice, meat, fish, chicken, fruits and vegetables.
It approved the amendment of Section 11.5 of City Ordinance 2486, or the City Market Code.
Councilor Alvin Arcilla, chairman of the committee on markets and author of the amendatory ordinance, said the move is in response to the letter-requests of some vendor associations to lower the rates.
“The recent round of increases in the prices of oil and oil products and the implementation of the TRAIN Law, which was not implemented yet during the formulation and passage of the City Market Code of 2017, have heavily taken their toll on our small-time retailing and livelihood activities in the City-owned and -operated public markets,” one of the position papers of vendors’ groups said.
The new rates cannot be implemented yet since the amendatory ordinance still needs the signature of Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Under the new Section 11.5, a market entrance fee will be collected from transient vendors and/or consignee of any commodity or merchandise, brought into the premises of public markets owned and operated by the City, for sale.
A vendor selling rice and corn will pay P2 for every 50-kilo sack.
Under the old ordinance, vendors have to pay P5 to P10 for every sack of rice, corn, feeds, wheat and flour, sugar and salt, and for every crate or box of bananas and P10 per box of other fruits.
Vendors will now pay only P6 for a regular crate and P8 for a large crate of fruits.
For imported meat, vendors will pay P1 per kilo, P2 per tray of eggs and P2 per sack of lemonsito (native lemons).
Entrance fee of large cattle will be P70 per head, P50 per head for hogs of at least 100 kilos, P30 per head for hogs up to 99 kilos, P20 per head for hogs 49 kilos below, P10 per head for goat or sheep, P1 per head for chicken and P5 per sack of charcoal.
Sellers of fish will pay P.80 per kilo; P175 for a big box of firstclass large fishes; P50 for a box of squid, octopus, shrimps; P15 per kilo of crabs; P20 per sack of seaweeds; and P20 per box of seashells.