Vendors out

For failing to comply with requirements, 400 vendors may have to leave market

SOME 400 stallholders at the new Mandaue City Public Market may have to go for not complying with some requirements.

City Legal Officer Giovanni Tianero, in a recent press conference, said the market is already accepting applications to replace the delinquent stall holders.

Tianero said the vendors are required to sign a document that binds them to pay lease rights fees, but about 400 out of 1,100 stall owners did not comply with this.

“The City decided to make the spaces occupied by these vendors available to the public,” he said.

The stalls will be awarded to new applicants on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Tianero said they were given ample time to comply with the requirement.

“They intend not to sign the under

taking so they can avoid paying their obligations once they move out of the market,” said Tianero.

Vendors pay lease rights fees of P20,000 or higher depending on their stall, for an eight-year contract.

Customers

Stallholders have complained about losses due to fewer customers at the new market, prompting the City to grant a one-year moratorium on lease rights fees.

Stallholders are allowed not to pay their lease rights fees until Jan. 8 next year.

The new market, located at the back of the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex in Barangay Centro, started operating last January. During the first two months, the market did not collect rental fees to help vendors recover the costs of their transfer.

Market administrator Musoline Suliva said he expects more customers with the opening of the Bureau of Internal Revenue office in the market building.