Barbecue seller Laonel Abunas, along with a handful of other street venders, transferred to a space located along C.M. Recto continue selling on Wednesday night, August 3 after Mayor Sara Duterte ordered the closure of the night market.(Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
Roxas Avenue was cleared of street venders mostly food, used clothing and massage therapists by Wednesday night, August 3 after Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio ordered its closure upon the recommendation of traffic and transport chief Rhodelio Poliquit. The officials cited various violations allegedly committed by street venders as the reason for the closure.
“I have ordered the closure of the night market because of a number of violations and complaints,” said Duterte.
Duterte said the venders “have been very defiant of the rules and regulations set by the city government.”
The following are the issues and concerns she cited:
1. Venders refuse to follow the one-family-one-stall rule
2. Venders insist on their preferred locations
3. Presence of stalls that are run by financiers, but are managed by dummies
4. Venders sub-leasing stalls to others
5. Venders who claim they were able to buy or secure rights or permits over their preferred stalls, insisting on selling their products, even if they are not included in the official list of allowed sellers.
Abunas, who has been selling barbecue for more than 20 years, hopes that the night market will eventually reopen, as the livelihood of many like him will be affected.
An estimate of 700 venders of food, accessories and ukay-ukay (used clothings) were affected by the closure.
Last year there were 166 accessory vendors, 78 food vendors and 353 ukay-ukay vendors. There are also 14 associations of massage therapists and 30 manicurists.
From January to July this year the city earned P2.98 million.
The city earned P5,473,421.56 million in taxes from the night market in 2015, more than a double of the P2,242,867.07 million earned in 2014.However, Duterte said even as the city is earning from the night market, she will not reopen it unless the vendors follow the rules.
“The vendors must follow our rules. It is not the other way around. If they cannot follow the rules, I will never reopen the night market,” she warned. (With a report from Paulo C. Rizal/davaotoday.com)
