THE Mandaue City Government will clear the streets of informal vendors by March 7.

Legitimate vendors had informed City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing how their income and sales were affected by the presence of illegal vendors who are putting up stalls on Ceniza, P. Burgos and P. Gomez streets.

There are 550 to 600 informal sellers who are occupying these areas. Quisumbing said the vendors earn more than the formal vendors “considering that they do not pay any taxes and business permits” to the City Government.

Legitimate vendors also earn less because they are located at the back of the city sports complex near the market building, which was damaged by the earthquake in 2013, and tricycles and jeepneys rarely take passengers there. Mandaue has 1,500 legitimate vendors.

The City had asked the ambulant vendors to dismantle their stalls last November because that was the initial schedule for the new market building in Barangay Centro, which is near the City Hall, to be finished.

Quisumbing said the vendors asked him to be allowed to stay until January as the deadline for the completion of the new market building had been moved.

The mayor met the informal vendors yesterday to inform them of the City’s plan.

“So we finally decided to give a fix deadline for the clearing of the roads in Ceniza, Burgos and Gomez, which will be March 7. We hope that by March 6, which is the deadline we gave for the voluntary dismantling, they will be able to cooperate and to clear their stalls,” he said.

The structures of the legitimate vendors who are paying taxes and fees to the City but are selling on these streets will also be dismantled.

The mayor assured the informal vendors that the City will still find ways for them to still earn.

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