Tarpaulins announcing that sidewalk vendors on Posadas Street have transferred to the second floor of Bankerohan Public Market’s fish section could be seen lining this narrow road near the market.
But in reality, vendors are still there on the streets, waiting for and calling on customers to buy their “kakanin” or native sweets. They said they have “no sales elsewhere, and so continue to encroach on Marfori, Datu Bago and Posadas Streets, along a parade of parked motorcycles, more than a month after the city government warned them to move into the main market, starting June 1.
These streets, by order of the city government, will be used for pay parking.
However, on Friday morning, enforcers from the City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) using megaphones only asked the vendors “to make sure roads are clear for vehicles and for pedestrians.” They did not say they will clear the streets of vendors.
“I guess the motorcycle owners won’t starve if they could not park here,” Jaen Cobing, president of the 80-member Posadas Street Vendors, told reporters in the vernacular on Friday morning.
“On the other hand, we will go hungry if we lose our livelihood,” she added.
Poor sales
Cobing, one of the 80 vendors on Posadas Street, said getting sales on the second floor of the fish section, a three-minute walk from Posadas Street, is “next to impossible.”
For two days, on June 3, they tried to sell on the second floor, but they had little to no sales. On June 4, only four vendors were left there.
Most of these vendors sell kakanin, while others sell vegetables and fruits.
Cobing said the clearing team from Ancillary Service Unit (ASU) goes around two to four times a day. Sometimes their personnel would “harshly” remind them to leave the area or confiscate their goods as a reminder to vacate the area. Sometimes they would just pass by Posadas Street and ignore the vendors.
She said she asked the clearing team why they would bother driving them away when they are only selling kakanin at P5 to P25 a piece.
She is also worried as they also need to pay for their rent on the second floor, which would be around P1,000 per month, due on July 20th, directly to the market master. It is the same amount they pay for encroaching the sidewalks.
“We request the clearing team to allow us to sell here at certain hours of the day instead of playing cat-and-mouse with them. After all, we’re just selling kananin as usual,” she added.
Kiki Dayondon, the lone banana vendor who was earlier spotted by MindaNews on June 1 was still on the second floor, arranging her coconuts and bananas. “No sales, the sales are low,” she initially said in the vernacular.
Speaking with a big sigh, she said she was repeatedly interviewed by reporters, together with her fellow sidewalk vendors on Posadas, about their woes.
“We said we want a dialogue with Vice President Sara Duterte because she allowed us to sell on the sidewalks, but the media would cut the interview,” she said, complaining that the media did not let their pleas reach the government.
Dayondon said they have been encroaching on sidewalks since they started selling fruits in 1992, and they were only evicted once, in 2008. After appealing to then city mayor Sara Duterte, they were allowed to again sell on the sidewalks.
She added they had received “harsh words” from ASU personnel but chose to ignore it and pleaded with them to let them stay.
Another vendor, Joseph Riger, said his stall in the market has become a storage for his goods, instead of being used as a food stall.
He said he used to have P3,000 in daily sales, but there’s almost nothing now.
Selling coffee and some kakanin as well, Riger said they could no longer go back to Posadas Street because it will be used for parking.
Customers’ comments
Gideon Alonzo, a 25-year old customer who tried to go to the second floor described the experience “as if going up to watch a basketball game on the upper box, only to find it was a boring game”.
“I would not go to the second floor, I would rather cook the kakanin myself),” he told MindaNews.
Another customer and motorcycle owner Jane Ocampo said she had seen “enough improvements” on the clearing of Posadas Street.
“Now it is easier to pass through, but vendors are still there. However, I am very glad that the local government finally addressed this problem after many years,” she said.
A clearing team composed of ASU, CTTMO, and City Economic Enterprise personnel was formed in line with the re-routing of vehicles, placement of signages, and painting of roads such as those used for public pay parking and loading and unloading bays.
CEE officer-in-charge Macky Macalipes identified 406 vacant stalls within the Bankerohan Public Market premises. They will also lease the second floor of the market which will include 76 vacant spaces for all affected vendors. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
