City Hall to implement color-coding, ID system for Sinulog vendors

More than a thousand street vendors will need to register for Cebu City’s Identification (ID)-based and color coding system for the upcoming Sinulog Festival as part of a more stringent measure to improve the festivity’s peace and order.

Genevieve Alcoseba, Operations Head of Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP), said the move is in response to the chaotic scene of vendors who had items displayed along crowded sidewalks that added to the obstruction of traffic during last year’s Sinulog celebration.

“So karun ato gyud siyang i-maintain nga sakto. Kung wala mo’y ID automatic (dakpon). Ato ni silang han-ayon para naa sad ta’y sakto nga monitoring nila this time,” Alcoseba said.

The identification system, which will bear the vendor’s background information, as well as the cluster color coding scheme will help authorities monitor and secure the vendors so they will not go beyond their assigned areas.

Among the identified streets where ambulant vendors are allowed to sell during the weeklong festivity are Colon Street, Jones Avenue, and other crowded areas.

Alcoseba said that the registration of vendors will be administered by the DWUP starting mid-December until before the Christmas holidays.

According to Alcoseba, they will prioritize those who are originally residing in Cebu City after receiving complaints of overlapping incidents involving registered and non-registered vendors who failed to comply with the city’s requirements.

“Naa gyud tay sakto nga control para di to mahitabo ang last year nga ang katong mga nang rehistro or mga karaan na nga manindahay nga tagasiyudad gyud nasapawan sa mga taga dili Cebu City,” Alcoseba said.

She, however, clarified that despite prioritizing the city’s constituents, they would still welcome vendors from other places so long as they adhere to the standard procedure.

Registered vendors who have been in the area for years will also help authorities oversee the surroundings as they are already familiar with the inner-workings of the cluster they belong to.

Vendors with no certified ID issue by the city will be given a warning with their first offense to be followed by a confiscation of their wares by the PROBE team should they persist.

DWUP will closely coordinate with barangay tanods, police officers, and the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (PROBE) team to ensure that the new system will be executed well.

Teresa Tan, USC Intern/JBB