JUST when long-time Roxas Night Market vendor Jessica dela Cerna was done displaying her products at her stall on Thursday evening, March 12, a sad announcement came. The Roxas Night Market is temporarily closed, no thanks to the alarming coronavirus disease pandemic.
Busy dismantling her food stall and keeping back food items to her storage box, dela Cerna can’t hide her worry on where she can source her daily income for the days to come since the closure of the night market is still indefinite.
“Naa na gyud untay customer sir pero wala mi nadayon og luto kay gipaclose naman, wala miy mahimo kundi manghipos gyud mi ani (We already had a customer waiting for her order but we can’t serve it since authorities are ordering us to stop operations. We are left with no choice since we have to obey),” the 53-yearold vendor shared.
Dela Cerna is one of the few pioneering vendors in the night market. She sells typical street food like kwek-kwek, fishball, tempura, kikiam, cheese sticks, fries, among others. Her average income per night ranges from P2,500 to P3,000.
“Nabalaka ko kay kung madugay pa unsaon na lang namo pagkaon, naa pa gyud tuition sa among anak. Pero dili man pud mi pwede mag insist na iopen kay para safety man pud sa katawhan, amo na lang gyud ni agwantahon (I am worried if this will last long, I don’t know where to get money for our food and my son’s college tuition. But we should not also insist to reopen the night market now because it concerns public health, I guess we should just endure the pain brought by this),” she added.
Single mother vendor Farhana Sakilen, 37, sat down besides the Aldevinco building watching her co-vendors dismantle their stalls. She is also clueless of what to do after the suspension. She is a mother of six kids.
“Di ko na alam sir kung anong plano nito. Siguro maghahanap na lang kung saan pa pwedeng magbenta (I don’t know what to do next. Maybe, I’ll be looking for other areas where we are allowed to sell),” Sakilen told Sun Star Davao.
But for vendor couple Jocil and Edgar Apostol, their plan B is to look for employment.
“We should look for other sources of income, we can’t just wait until the night market reopens,” Edgar shared.
On Thursday night, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio ordered the shutdown of all public playgrounds and parks including Roxas Night Market as a precautionary measure against the spread of the highly-infectious disease.
In a radio interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio Friday afternoon, Duterte-Carpio said the over 500 vendors affected will be enrolled in the Department of Labor and Employment’s Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program for a month.
Tupad is a community-based package of assistance that provides emergency employment for displaced workers, underemployed, and seasonal workers.
Roxas Night Market houses 130 tenants for accessories area, 130 for the RTWs, 116 food vendors, and more than a hundred massage therapists in every three-month shift.