AT LEAST 50 fish vendors from Calderon St., Cebu City gathered at the Plaza Sugbo yesterday to stage a silent protest about their plight.
Anna Marie Ariosa, Calderon Barracks Association representative, said their stalls were ordered demolished by Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta over the weekend.
“The tanods who cleared us out did not even show us a written order about the demolition. Many of us have been selling in the area since the 70s and we’ve never received complaints. We just want to be able to continue our business in the same area,” she told reporters in Cebuano.
She alleged that Rupinta may have set an eye on them when they stopped paying the P10 voluntary service fee after learning that the collection was illegal.
Ariosa said their members were threatened and told they would be replaced by vendors who are allies of the Ermita barangay officials.
But an hour later, the vendors’ cries of protest were replaced by a chorus of cheers.
This came after Mayor Tomas Osmeña met with the fish traders and told them that the City Government will allow them to continue doing their business in the area.
In his news conference, Osmeña said the vendors were used by Rupinta for his own benefit by collecting the voluntary fee.
Ermita has been collecting a P10 voluntary fee from vendors within the vicinity of the Carbon Public Market, until the collection activity made headlines over its alleged questionable legality.
Officials and lawyers at City Hall announced that the City Government will filecharges against those involved in the alleged illegal collections, since only the Market Authority has the power to supervise and oversee matters involving all public markets in the city.
Rupinta, though, stood pat in his position that they are collecting from ambulant vendors doing business outside the market’s building, and that the accumulated collection is what they use to pay their personnel who keep the market clean.
“They were used for the personal business of Rupinta. There’s no accounting on that collection. The vendors will be allowed to return to the area,” Osmeña said.
To ensure that there will be no unauthorized clearing orders again, the mayor directed Councilor Dave Tumulak, deputy mayor for police matters, to oversee the area. In a separate interview, Market Administrator Atty. Winifredo Orcullo said that although the vendors were ambulant street traders, the City has been giving them maximum tolerance as long as there are no complaints against them.
“The 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. trading schedule for ambulant vendors has been practiced for a long time already. We’ve never allowed any demolition orders because we have also not received any complaints about the vendors’ activity in the streets. They’ve been cooperative with us, so far that’s why we also want to help them keep their livelihood,” he said.
Rupinta said he will allow the vendors to continue selling as his tanods are also busy with their own preparations for All Saints and All Souls Day.
Rupinta is set to sit down on Friday with the affected vendors, Tumulak and Orcullo to settle the issue. (RTF)