THE Cebu Market Vendors Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Cemvedco) opposes plans to improve the state of the Carbon Public Market, known as the oldest and largest market in Cebu City.
SM Supermarkets had submitted a proposal to Mayor Edgardo Labella to modernize the Carbon market and turn it into a supermarket like what it did at the SM Marketmall in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
Cemvedco chairman Erwin Gok-ong Sr. said they do not want the same setup to be implemented at the Carbon market after group officials visited the marketmall in Dasmariñas and met with the market management on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019.
During their visit, Gok-ong found out that vendors were assigned on a floor where they could not be immediately seen by shoppers.
“When you enter the building, the offices of the manager and private establishment offices are the ones that welcome you. Below that floor are where the vendors are stationed. So when you enter the building, if you’re not aware that there is a market there, you will just think that it’s only a supermarket of SM,” he said.
He said that since SM transformed the public market into a supermarket, many vendors chose to sell outside the establishment after their profits dropped.
He said the local government unit of Dasmariñas was forced to provide P5,000 as financial assistance to affected vendors so they would remain inside the marketmall.
Gok-ong also revealed that the SM Supermarket also sells what the vendors on the lower ground sell.
He said he wants to bring that up during the consultation meeting between the City and SM, adding that the mayor assured them that SM would not sell the same products Carbon vendors are selling.
Before SM took over the public market of Dasmariñas, Gok-ong said vendors used to pay the City Government P10 every day. Since SM took over, vendors had to pay P64 daily and their stalls were small, too, he said. Vendors also have to follow rules and regulations set by SM, Gok-ong added.
He hopes the situation in Dasmariñas will not happen in the Carbon market.
“From the manager’s point of view, from the City Hall, from the mayor, they really cannot relate to what’s happening on ground zero, so we hope and pray that the good heart of Labella would tell him to consult the stallholders and sidewalk vendors regarding the matter,” said Gok-ong.
Carbon market currently has more than 1,000 stallholders.
According to SM Supermarket’s proposal, it plans to build a three-story supermarket. The first floor will house the stalls; second floor, the parking area; and the third floor, loading and unloading of goods.
The structure will rise on the two-hectare property. It will replace the Unit I building where meat and seafood are sold, the Unit II building under construction and the Unit III building where fruits are sold.
The mayor had announced that no stallholder would be left behind by the development.
The Carbon market is located on M.C. Briones St. in Barangay Ermita. JJL