CAGAYAN de Oro City has collected a total of P25.869 million from January to February this year from stall owners and vendors of Cogon Market, a report from City Economic Enterprises Department (CEED) shows.
Temoteo Chavez, CEED acting manager, said the increase was most notable especially during the month of February when the market's income doubled to P23.352 million as compared to P6.528 million for the same period last year or an increase of about 358 percent.
In January, the city collected P2.516 million compared to last year’s P1.378 million or an increase of some P182 percent.
The CEED said the increase in collection is mainly attributed to the compliance of market vendors to renew their business permits. The city has launched an aggressive campaign for permit renewals, by bringing CEED staff to the markets to save vendors from the hassle of going to the City Hall.
About 1,582 stall owners out of the 2,195 successfully renewed their permits before the deadline which was set last February 28.
The income will be used to improve the operations of the Cogon market, which is also currently undergoing renovations.
City Councilor Ian Nacaya had earlier batted for Cogon Market to go solar. The councilor also recently implemented a new traffic scheme in the market and became stricter for ambulant vendors by establishing a night market scheme.
Nacaya said the night market has alleviated the usual heavy traffic in the market during daytime as ambulant vendors are only allowed to display their products on the sidewalks from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.