Vendors at the Agdao Public Market, particularly those in the variety and dry goods sections, are thankful that they have been allowed to sell at the ground floor where sales are brisk even though they are assigned at the second floor of a newly expanded building.
They are, however, worried over the uncertainty of their situation because they were supposed to sell at the ground floor only up to June 30, as announced earlier by Maximo Macalipes, officer-in-charge of the City Economic Enterprise (CEE), in response to requests by the vendors.
But for Ligaya Uba, president of the Agdao Public Market Dry Goods Section, this must be a “sign” that the Duterte administration, even under the acting mayoral capacity of Vice Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, is finally hearing their pleas.
“We felt that the City Economic Enterprise has finally understood our situation, but I believe it was an order from the mayor,” Uba said in the vernacular during an interview at her stall Thursday morning.
She said that as part of the Agdao Farmers’ Market Association, they sent Baste a letter last March 10 requesting that they be allowed to continue selling at the public market’s ground floor beyond June 30.
Uba said Baste’s office, when he was still the elected mayor, received the letter on March 28, but they have not heard from him yet.
Despite her appreciation of what she believes was Acting Mayor Baste’s move to help the market vendors, she nevertheless appealed that the city government lower the rent for their stalls.
Many of them, Uba said, are paying for their assigned stalls on the second floor, and are also paying for their temporary stalls on the ground floor.
Currently, dry goods and variety section vendors are paying rent worth ₱18.40 per square meter per day, and thus translates to a monthly payable ranging from ₱6,000 to ₱12,000.
Uba said some of them would give up their bigger stalls at the second floor, where they are assigned, and instead just occupy smaller stalls on the ground floor so they could earn more.
She said many of the vendors have already left because of low earnings. Of the 78 in the variety section, only 42 are still selling. Of the 28 dry goods vendor, 18 have remained.
The vendors’ fate, meanwhile, still hangs in the balance.
Paul Alparaque, Agdao Public Market inspector, said a committee composed of the city administrator, city treasurer, city legal officer, representative from the Sangguniang Panlungsod and from the market vendors’ association has yet to convene and decide if the dry goods and variety vendors could continue to sell on the ground floor.
Alparaque advised that in the meantime, the vendors must observe cleanliness and pay their rents on time to avoid further complications.
The ₱850-million expansion project of the public market was stopped in its third phase due to “lack of funds.” Another building will be established to host the fruit and vegetable sections, which were temporarily transferred to the second floor of the new market building.
On October 15, 2024, the market administration had allowed some of the second floor vendors to temporarily sell on the ground floor at certain times of the day so they could earn some “decent money.”
The ground floor of the new building is assigned to the meat, fish, and poultry vendors, but is now being shared with the dry goods and variety vendors. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
