Roaming vendors within city streets and public parks with permits will be organized into a cooperative for them to be given livelihood assistance by the city government.
This was announced by Mayor Benjamin Magalong in a meeting held July 17 at the City Multipurpose Hall with hundreds of roving vendors who have been earning their daily needs by selling novelty items and street foods among others within the city market, public parks and certain city streets.
Magalong listened to the plea of hundreds of roving vendors who claimed that their only source of sustenance is by selling their goods to park goers as well as those on city streets and the city market as they are incapable to pay rent if they are to lease a physical store.
In the past, ambulant vendors crowded the city market, city streets and public parks but the city government was able to manage this by providing special permits to sell. The permits served as passes for the vendors to sell their goods within areas allowed and identified by the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) as well as the Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA).
Errant vendors whether they have special permits or none caught selling outside their identified areas in the market, parks and streets are apprehended by the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) of the city government.
Bernardita Banania, president of the Burnham Park Vendors Association, said she has been vending at Burnham Park for over 20 years with her cart full of various merchandise such as balloons, chips and toys.
Her association has over 200 members selling their goods at Burnham Park alternately to avoid crowding in the park.
“Pero simula nang maupo si Mayor Magalong, wala ng nakapagrenew ng special permit sa amin,” Banania lamented. She said they continue to sell sans the special permit since it is their only source of income.
Magalong answered that “parks are beyond the commerce of man,” and therefore selling should not be allowed but the city government will not ban roving vendors immediately until a cooperative is formulated to cater to the needs of the vendors.
“We plan to formulate a cooperative with roving vendors as members and we will put up a physical store for them to manage. The city government will provide assistance to the cooperatives by providing the goods and merchandise to be sold in the stores,” Magalong explained.
He added that the stores will only be limited in number depending on the park so as not to accumulate large footprint on the park reservations.
Magalong said his proposal is patterned after Japan where the elderlies are organized to manage specialty stores in the parks at the same time keeping their parks clean and orderly.
“In six months from now, ayoko ng makakita ng roving vendors sa mga parks,” Magalong said.
Councilor Philian Weygan-Allan, chairperson of the Committee on Market, Trade and Commerce, said there will no longer be special permits to be issued to roving vendors as a prelude to the formulation of cooperatives.**By Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
