Mabini blues

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred Dizon

I was parking my pickup truck around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday just across the Cospal Building at Mabini Street when a young man asked me how long I would stay. I asked him why. “Kasi maglalagay kami ng barbecue stand diyan mamaya,” he said. Pissed off, I told him,” Anong legal ang dapat nakalagay dito, ang barbecue (stand) o sasakyan. Kalsada naman to.” “Sige po,” he said, then went inside one of the stalls in the building.

A few minutes later, a man who claimed his name was Sixto said I had to leave because they would be setting up barbecue stands on the road where I parked. He said they had a business permit issued by the barangay captain allowing them to sell barbecue on the road.

I told him there was no way I would leave since roads are beyond the commerce of man. I called the police. A few minutes, two cops came and demanded from Sixto what authority he had to make drivers of vehicles move out from the area. He produced the barangay business permit signed by punong barangay Michael Flores. We proceeded to the barangay hall to clarify the matter but the man who was sleeping inside the hall said no official was present.
***
So off we went to the police precinct atop Session Road to blotter the incident. A cop said police didn’t prevent illegal vendors anymore from selling their wares there since the task had been given to the peace and order division of the city government.

I told him I blottered the incident since I wanted to get a clarification from the city government if roads in the city could be used as selling areas by vendors even if it made traffic intolerable. “Mayat dayta ta uray dakami ket haan min maawatan nu inya talaga ti paglugaran mi,” he said.

(Some months ago, POSD men went to the area and confiscated goods and materials of the illegal vendors but that was just that. Call it ningas cogon but after the raid, there were no follow-ups. If the POSD did their job on a regular basis, then my altercation with Sixto wouldn’t have happened.)

The next day, I went to City Hall to talk with Mayor Peter Rey Bautista about the incident. He said he agreed with me that selling barbecue or other goods on the road for the matter was illegal. He summoned POSD chief Greg Deligero to prevent the illegal vendors from selling in the area.
***
The POSD men indeed went but early in the afternoon when vendors were still not around. The next day, I talked again with the mayor who again talked with Deligero. But the latter said his men would be very tired if they went to Mabini around P5.30 p.m.

He said in front of the mayor: “Kaasi met dagidiay vendors, mapukawan da pagbiyagan.” I told him laws are laws and these should be enforced or it would be mayhem. I proposed that the police should do the job if the POSD can’t. The mayor said okay and told Deligero to tell the police.

Whether Deligero told the police to get the illegal vendors out of the area or not is still a wonder, because after that, no law enforcer went to Mabini to enforce the law. I related the story to Dobie De Guzman of ABS-CBN and they made an episode on the matter with Andrea Diocares reporting. Other media outfits like Bombo Radio and television like Mountainview Cable have also questioned the indifference of barangay and city officials on the matter.
***
Still at press time, no law enforcer went to Mabini and the illegal vendors are still there. It is Ampatuan Country over at Mabini where things are done with impunity. Who will enforce the law there?

Some months ago, barangay officials placed potted trees on the road to the consternation of motorists. After much uproar by local media, the trees were put beside the sidewalk. Until now, the trees are still there, a testament to the Ampatuan-like management of barangay officials where the punong barangay issues business permits to vendors to sell wares on the road.

Vendors reportedly pay P100 to P200 per day to the barangay official(s) for the privilege of using the street. Who will now restore order in the area as it seems the city government can’t do something about it? Paging the regional Department of Interior and Local Government, the Civil Service Commission or the Office of the Ombudsman.