THE Bacolod City Legal Office (CLO) enforcement team along with the Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) removed the illegal structures inside the Bacolod public plaza including the ambulant vendors who are not authorized to sell in the area, City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting, Jr., said Friday, June 9.
Ting said it has been observed that some individuals used to sleep at the public plaza’s benches and shed houses where they build temporary tents using plastic or cartoon.
He said he ordered the team to remove all the illegal structures as well as the illegal food vendors, adding that only the registered vendors are allowed to sell inside the public plaza who secured a permit from the city government.
Ting noted that the enforcement team will also regulate the manicurists, shoe cleaning and repair, massage therapists as well as the commercial sex workers who stayed inside the Bacolod public plaza.
Aside from the Bacolod public plaza, Ting said they also cleared the ambulant vendors selling along Capitol Park and Lagoon.
“We also advised them before the removal of their stalls and most of them agreed to vacate the area,” he said.
If the vendors insisted on not vacating the area, Ting added that the enforcement team would confiscate their items.
Ting noted that the ambulant vendors should follow the City Ordinance (CO) 1009 Series of 2022, or the Ordinance Regulating Vending.
Under the ordinance, vending shall be allowed in designated areas specified in the ordinance, but it shall not include registered vendors inside city public markets who have established business locations, have permits, and are paying appropriate business taxes to the city government.
The identified designated areas included North Capitol Road up to the corner of Aguinaldo Street; Gallardo Street to the University of St. La Salle; Gatuslao Street; Gonzaga Street; Luzuriaga Street; inside Bacolod City public plaza; Bonifacio Street; and the south area of Ballesteros Street.
All the ambulant vendors including those selling in front of the schools should register and secure an identification (ID) card from the Local Market Committee (LMC). They will be required to wear their IDs.*