PUBLIC markets were built by public funds to provide our producers and small vendors the opportunity for consumers to purchase goods at the most affordable prices. A delicate balance, for the city must earn not only to maintain the infrastructure and facilities but also to provide for other social services.

But look at our public markets. It is dirty and a veritable mall for pirated products and services which really has no place for a public market. An appalling state for what should be the city’s economic, agricultural and entrepreneurial showcase.

There is one favorite eatery I would frequent. It serves “humba.” Although my lola’s recipe was far better to my estimation, Violy’s was to me, like many others, provide a quick and hot meal. How about the “kakanins” of Lupe? But it does come with a risk to one’s sense of hygiene, for a cursory look will make one think again of coming back seeing cockroaches crawling all over. But we do, not just for the acquired taste but also to support our vendors.

All this started when the city forgot that our public markets are a form of public service for our local farmers and producers to display and sell their products. Our wet market section is dark, damp and foul-smelling. For how can one be so dumb as to enclose the ground floor with stalls, where not much air can pass through? Spend not even half an hour inside and the stench sticks to ones’ skin and clothing long after. I even doubt if our markets have a waste-water treatment facility, let alone, sufficient drainage to absorb what a gargantuan facility would require.

As a tour operator, and a traveler myself, I would certainly want to sample what a place produces, from fresh products to local delicacies. It is the very first thing they want to experience. Yet we seem to be so proud of our malls and the branded products being peddled within yet other cities have larger ones and with more brands. But what about our very own, especially those cooked and prepared by our small entrepreneurs. We all recall how Steve’s BBQ, used to be barbecued delights in a “kariton” we flock to.

So I ask myself, what has become of our leaders so obsessed with malls, that the only place where a farmer will see his goods sold at the least price affordable to more than half of Kagay-anons is administered and built to become a shopping center. Why enclose the ground and second floors with stalls selling gadgets, pirated discs and dry goods when fresh produce delivered to our public markets need to be sold on the day itself, without need of added cost of refrigeration. Isn’t it common knowledge that the mixture of moisture, dirt, lack of air and adequate light produce bacteria, exposing both our patrons and vendors to diseases?

To my mind, our public markets and how they are managed and maintained is the measure of how our city treat business. In our country where 99 percent of our businesses are small to medium enterprises, it is imperative for our leadership to build and maintain a facility to serve the backbone of our economy and majority of our consumers which is hygienic at the very least.

And I find it highly objectionable to rent out our public markets to those who can well afford to buy or lease their own property to sell their cheap but imported goods. Our markets are for the people, not for the celebrated multi-million investors. If we have farmer’s cooperatives, why not sell to market vendor’s cooperatives. A mall is a mall and a market is a market. And only a small-minded bureaucrat with hopes for a large financial windfall will not make that distinction.