Mayor to veto council move to award stalls

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. Thursday said he will veto the city council resolution awarding the 56 stalls at the sari-sari section of the city market because six of the stalls are not suitable for award at all.

The body the other week approved a resolution awarding immediately the 50 stalls to the original grantees while the remaining six spaces will be raffled off to other claimants.

The mayor said he is aware that the 50 original stallholders in the area have valid contracts with the city but the six others have no legitimate permits.

The said six were said to have permits purportedly approved by the City Council in 1995 despite provisions in the Market Code that disallow subdivision and subleasing of stalls at the trading center.

The mayor said that the 50 original grantees were included in the list of legitimate stallholders with existing and valid contracts with the city government based on the report of the Baguio City Market Authority under the city treasurer’s office.

With his plan of disapproving the council measure, even the award of the 50 legitimate stalls will also have to wait, the mayor said.

He said it is better that the six stalls be left vacant and be used for other purposes than for vending.

Occupants of the six disputed stalls demanded reinstatement at their stalls during the city council session.

The mayor earlier said that only legitimate stallholders are entitled to spaces at the newly built structures at the city market amid complaints that many vendors were displaced or unceremoniously stripped of their right to stalls they claimed to have occupied for many years before the fire.

The mayor said the subject persons who claim to have occupied stalls but are not included in the list may have just been sub-lessees of the spaces rented out by the original stallholders or just plain illegal occupants.

He said it is not the city’s responsibility to accommodate them as they have no contracts with the city government.

He said on advantage gained from the market improvement project was that it gave the city the chance to purge the said area of illegal vendors and stem the practice of sub-leasing which is also not allowed by the city government. The project also ensured fairness as all stalls were constructed in uniform sizes.

The stalls number 200 at the vegetable section, 56 at the sari-sari section and 20 at the tobacco section.

Meanwhile, the mayor bared plans of constructing stalls at the Blocks 3 and 4 of the city market to develop the long idle area of the trading area.

The mayor said the city believes the subject area is not part of the city’s contract with Uniwide and is therefore free for development.

He said the city may avail of the loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines to finance the project along with other plans like the satellite markets at City Camp and Pacdal and the establishment of the engineered sanitary landfill for waste management.- Aileen P. Refuerzo