SIDEWALK vendors of both Cogon and Carmen public markets picketed outside the City Hall Tuesday and urged the local officials to allow them to sell on small portions along the streets while the promised “lasting solution to this problem” is in the works.
Cherrylyn Legaspi, 31, a vendor from Barangay Canitoan said she and others have been displaced since July 1 and have experienced difficulties providing for the daily needs of their families.
Legaspi said they support the new city administration’s “hapsay nga kadalanan” (orderly streets) program but they should be given leeway to sell on the sidewalk and avoid disruption in earning an income.
“All we ask is a small space since they cannot relocate us yet so that we can still earn a living,” Legaspi told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
Saniyah Alinog, also a vendor, is dismayed over the clearing of the public market streets since it has displaced and prompted her to stop sending her children to school due to scarce income.
She recalled earning P5,000 a day as she sold shoes on the street for two years prior to the uprooting of the vendors on the streets on July 1.
Alinog said she didn't sell any in four consecutive days.
Jameera Lumabao, a Maranao, also expressed the same sentiment of displacement and deprivation of livelihood and how it has worsened her situation while observing Ramadan.
“How can we buy our food at sunset if we couldn’t sell anything during the day?” Lumabao questioned.
rLasting solution
Lawyer Edgardo Uy, chair of Task Force Hapsay Dalan (TFHD), assured the vendors they will be relocated soon.
Uy said the TFHD is looking for “a lasting solution to the problem” and finalizing the stall allocation for the vendors.
“We have been working for a lasting solution and I understand their plight. We assure them that we are doing all that we can to address the problem,” Uy said.
A former Cogon market vendor, who asked not to be named, said he and other fellow sellers, completely support Moreno’s TFHD and they are happy of the results since the vendors especially those selling inside the market and paying rent to the city are now given more chances to sell their produce.
The source said they have long been affected by the proliferation of “illegal vendors” selling on the streets outside the market because customers did not bother going inside.
rDialogue
Uy and some vendors’ representatives held a dialogue inside the mayor’s office on Tuesday to discuss their request and TFHD requested the vendors to be more understanding and considerate with the situation.
“It won’t be long, we have already plotted the stall placement to accommodate the vendors,” Uy said.
In a social media site, Uy posted that the second floor of the Cogon Market has a 6,000 square meter available space that can accommodate some 2,000 stalls and two meter alley ways.
“If we reduce the width of the alleys, we can add more stalls. Some of the stall owners here have gone down the streets to sell because customer did not go up to the 2nd floor due to the availability of vegetables, etc. on the sidewalks,” the post read.
Uy also added that some stall holders in the 2nd floor have more than one stalls.
“Following the ordinance, an awardee is only allowed one stall. The extra stalls held by a single holder will be declared vacant and will be made available through raffle to those who are eligible and don't have stalls yet,” Uy said.
According to the City Economic Enterprise Department (CEED) estimates, about 70 percent of the vendors on sidewalks and streets have stalls upstairs.
CEED estimates that there are 1,000 sidewalk and street vendors in Cogon market alone.