During the flag-raising ceremony, Bautista said there are more pressing issues the city executive should be dealing with, but because of the unabated increase in the number of illegal vendors, even this adds up to the already immense problem confronting the city with regard the public market alone.
"Wag na kayong dumagdag sa problema," Bautista said, adding the market also has to be cleared so that order and cleanliness could be imposed.
During the department heads' meeting, it was also agreed that after the clearing operations, regular flushing of the market would resume.
The palengke task force said simultaneous with the clearing operations, they would also census vendors so as to come up with a uniform number of vendors who currently conduct business at the market.
The task force also agreed to defer the collection of kuartais pending more concrete moves from the City Government.
A large portion of the market was cleared of illegal stalls and similar structures by personnel of the City Mayor's Office Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) early Tuesday morning.
This was done with a composite team from all stations of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), which provided area security and assistance, and a clean-up team from the Baguio Fire Department.
Senior Superintendent Moises Guevarra, BCPO director, "excess and illegal stalls, as well as other structures set up by vendors that served as obstacles along streets and alleys" were cleared starting at 12:30AM yesterday, including those located in Zandueta Street, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Kayang Streets.
The city's firemen, on the other hand, started the flushing and cleaning activity in these areas at around 3:45 a.m. on Tuesday.
The plan was an offshoot of the action done by legitimate vendors last week, where they "joined" illegal meat vendors and began selling outside of the respective stalls, to protest the city's inaction on the increasing number of illegal vendors doing business outside of the meat selling area.
Notices of the clearing operations were sent to concerned vendors last Saturday, after the palengke task force, headed by City Administrator Peter Fianza agreed in a meeting last Friday that summary demolition and confiscation of goods could not be done without allowing concerned vendors to voluntarily pack up. (RO with reports from Ernie Olson Jr.)
