City Council OKs lower market rates
Vendors in Cebu City can now heave a sigh of relief after the City Council approved the ordinance lowering the market rates in city-owned and operated markets.
Councilor Alvin Arcilla said the reduction is 20 to 50 percent of the existing market entrance fees.
“Last year, we approved the new, increased market rates. This year, we lower the price based on the negotiations with the vendors and the City Mayor (Tomas Osmeña),” Arcilla told members of the council.
Arcilla said that after the approval of last year’s increase in market rates, he has been receiving complaints from several vendors prompting him to sponsor an ordinance bringing back the fees down.
Without objections and discussions, Arcilla’s amendatory ordinance was passed during the regular session on October 23. The measure is now waiting for the signature of Mayor Tomas Osmeña and the mandatory newspaper publication before it could be implemented.
“The recent rounds of increases in the prices of oil products, 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,” read a portion of the letter sent by market vendors to the City Council.
The new rate would now be P2 from P5 for every sack of rice and corn. As for boxes of fruits, Arcilla’s measure reduced the P10 to P8 for regular box and P12 to 10 for large box. From P100 per head of cattle, Arcilla reduced it to P70 while P50 for every head of hog instead of P100. As for the chicken, he said the new market rate is now P1 per chicken from P1.50.
Arcilla said market entrance fees are collected from all transient vendors or consignee of any commodity or merchandise brought into the premises and or the surrounding of the city-owned and operated markets. —