Council receives list of vendors affected by Carbon Market project

AFTER a year of delays, the Cebu City Council has received a list of vendors affected by the Carbon Market Development project.

The list was presented during an executive session on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.

Councilor Nestor Archival revealed that his office initiated a meeting in June 2023 to discuss the situation of the Carbon Public Market and its vendors.

Archival expressed dismay at the City Market Authority during the session.

“Ang problema sa market authority, I’m sorry ha, gahi kaayo ni silag ulo. I mean, I can’t just imagine this is 2023 and until now wala pa gihapon kahatag og list,” he said.

The problem with the market authority is, I’m sorry to say this, that it is very stubborn. I mean, I can’t believe it’s already 2023, and it still hasn’t provided the list.”

The council has been seeking the list to ensure all affected vendors would be accommodated in the newly developed market. Despite passing six resolutions between July 2023 and June 2024, the council only received a partial list in September 2023, with no updates since then.

In a resolution passed on June 5, 2024, Archival requested the City Market Authority to release lease contracts for vendors of the Cebu City Market.

Market Supervisor 2 Mary Jane Diano told the council that the latest list includes 52 ambulant vendor associations comprising 3,948 members, all from the Carbon Market complex.

She said the list was finalized after a series of meetings and the implementation of an ID system to accurately count the vendors.

The list was submitted before the executive session on Tuesday, Aug. 27.

Diano explained the delay was due to constantly changing numbers of vendors, which prompted the need for the ID system.

She committed to posting the list at the City Market Authority office and in the market on Friday, Aug. 30, in compliance with Archival’s request.

During the session, Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. inquired whether the 52 vendor associations were under an organized structure.

Diano responded that “not all” were under one organization.

Alcover suggested forming a federation to improve supervision and communication and requested a list of officers for the organization. / JPS