BACOLOD City Councilor Celia Matea Flor, chairperson of the City Council committee on markets, urged all Manokan Country tenants to follow their compromise agreement with the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) to avoid closure of their stalls this month.
Flor said yesterday, November 30, that she will check the collection report from the CTO to determine the delinquent tenants as well as their arrears.
“They should follow their compromise agreement to pay their arrears monthly,” she said.
The official added it’s part of the agreement that if they fail to pay in two consecutive months, the city will close their stalls.
On October 3, 2022, about 15 stalls at the Manokan Country were shut down by the City Legal Office (CLO) for failure to secure sanitary permits and business permits.
The tenants were given until September 30, 2022 to settle their accounts reaching P8.6 million with the CTO so that they could start processing their permits but they failed.
They only reopened and returned to their usual operations after they signed a compromise agreement with the CTO to pay their arrears.
Manokan Country is a row of restaurants selling grilled foods, especially the famous Bacolod Chicken Inasal, is situated on a city-owned property at the Reclamation Area right across SM City Bacolod.
“They should follow their obligation to avoid conflict. If they fail to pay, I am sorry but we will close their stalls,” Flor said.
She said they will hold a meeting with the local market committee to discuss the situation of the Manokan Country vendors on Friday, December 3.
Aside from the Manokan Country vendors, the stall owners from the three major public markets were also given a deadline this month to pay their arrears.
“So far, I already received the collection report from the CTO and it showed that most of them paid their arrears. Our only problem, the vendors at Manokan Country,” Flor said.
The arrears of the vendors due to non-payment of rentals at the three major public markers already reached about P30 million.
City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. earlier said more than 1,000 vendors agreed to pay 10 percent of their arrears every month and some of them already settled their accounts at the CTO.*