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Wednesday, March 16, 2005
City Hall won't crack down on vendors
By Danilo V. Adorador III
THE City Government won't crack down on vendors similar to what is done in Bohol province in the wake of the cassava poisoning case.
"I'm not going to stop them from surviving," Mayor Vicente Emano said amid reports that other local government units have banned vendors outside the school campuses.
And in Sunday's City Council session, Councilor Jose Benjamin Benaldo, who chairs the City Council committee on education, said he would present a special report on the issue.
This came even as a number of vendors outside private and public schools in Cagayan de Oro said they would stop selling cassava delicacies there.
Street vendors along Corrales Elementary School said they won't sell cassava delicacies to schoolchildren. A vendor named Evangeline said she already stopped selling cassava to the pupils.
"Yesterday there was a delivery but it was not sold, now it's really anymore sold," she said in the dialect.
A sidewalk vendor along City Central School said their small trade was severely affected because nobody else bought their cassava based foods like "puto (rice cake)", "suman" and "pitsi-pitsi."
Livelihood
Vendor Inday Balanoy for her part observed that her cassava cakes would all be sold out early in the morning prior to the Bohol incident.
"Yesterday only half were sold...it seems the children are afraid to buy even though Bohol province is far away," she said.
Still the vendors said they are unconvinced that the cassava sold had been the cause of the deaths of more than 20 schoolchildren in Bohol and added they may resume selling in a matter of weeks.
Some said the cassava sold by vendors at the San Jose Elementary School weren't properly cooked while others said the incident was premeditated.
"Perhaps the vendor sold very well and jealous competitors cooked up something," a street vendor said.
Meanwhile Emano said he cannot impose the ban because the livelihood of these vendors would be affected. "This is a source livelihood, we should pity them," Emano said.
Asked whether the vendors around the City Central School have secured the necessary City Hall permits, the mayor's reply was indirect. "Naa ginagmay (there's a little)." He did not elaborate.
Appropriate charges
Emano said his order to the City Health Office (CHO) to conduct information dissemination on cassava poisoning "should be sufficient enough."
City Health Officer Dr. Jerie Calingasan cautioned the public on cassava poisoning. He explained in a dxIF Bombo Radyo interview there was no ban on cassava consumption.
However, he said the public must observe the proper way of cooking the root crop.
"If cooked, the cooking pan should not be covered and if intended as a rice-cake, the flesh should be grated and ensured it is cooked well," Calingasan said.
According to Calingasan, there is no other preventive measure to avoid poisoning except cooking the cassava thoroughly.
The CHO is holding an information drive on cassava poisoning in every barangay.
There were reports indicated that bottles of pesticide used commonly in farming was found at the house of the two cassava vendors during a police search.
According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the pesticide may have been mixed to the cooking oil used in preparing the food.
However, the NBI reiterated its investigation is unfinished and it has yet to determine the appropriate charges against the cassava vendors.
Turf
Earlier, acting Bohol Governor Julius Caesar Herrera said the Provincial Government already ordered the school vendors throughout the province to cease from selling snacks outside school premises.
Herrera also confirmed Saturday in a dxIF Bombo Radyo interview the death of another San Jose Elementary School pupil bringing the death toll to 27.
Also, Education Secretary Florencio Abad said he would order a stop on school children buying foods from street vendors. Secretary Abad also said in a radio interview that school administrators will be responsible to guard their own turf.
The latest cassava poisoning occurred in Cotabato City on Saturday when a Muslim couple was rushed to hospital after reportedly eating a boiled cassava given by one of their neighbors.
Nasrudin Salem and his wife Fatima were confined at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center after they started complaining of stomach pain and began vomiting.
Local officials have already instructed the Health Office to investigate the case. (With reports from SC, Sun.star Superbalita and the wires)
(March 14, 2005 issue)
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