THE Cagayan de Oro City Government assures to stop the “karate system” in the markets in a recent coordination meeting with law enforcement agencies this week.
The karate system is a term coined inside the market, when law enforcers, who are arresting ambulant vendors, engage into a literal karate or a brawl.
The recent “karate incident” was on April 19 this year, when a viral video shared online showed a vendor’s dried fish stocks thrown on the streets after the traffic enforcer and the vendor got into a fight.
But Sabuga-a assured that there will be no more karate system anymore.
“We have a clear directive to all the personnel of the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) that they should not engage, uphold maximum tolerance,” he said.
To ensure that these incidents won’t happen again, he said the city has tapped the help of barangay tanods. They will be tasked to handle the vendors, instead of the traffic enforcers.
He said letting tanods handle the vendors is strategic, since barangay tanods also live in the same area with the vendors and a relationship has already been built.
A dialogue with imams and community leaders was also conducted to remind them and the vendors of the rules in the market.
“We are all doing this as we continue to improve our public markets for the convenience of the public, including the vendors,” he said.
The City Economic Enterprises Department, Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, barangay tanods and barangay officials of Barangays 32-40 were among the personalities who attended the meeting last week.