Baguio mayor gives back market walkways to public

By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- It’s what residents have been clamoring for long – the return of discipline -, this time by  giving back the alleys and pathways to the public at the overcrowded city market.  

Housewives and other market-goers can now walk through with  comparative ease and relief after mayor Mauricio Domogan ordered the clearing of walkways occupied for years by vendors selling whatever are also offered inside legitimate stalls.

The clearing, implemented swiftly by the public order and safety division led by retired police officer and now executive assistant  Paul Cambod, came as a pleasant surprise to the buying public who had to daily inch their way through what little space is left unoccupied by the maze of goods or skip these like it were a game of hopscotch. 

The clearing drive was unexpectedly swift, even with  some vendors threatening to march to city hall and protest their dislocation from spaces that were  – for all intents and purposes – designed for access, not only for the public but for stallholders bringing in their goods.

Aware of this, mayor Domogan earlier called on members of the city council to support the executive thrust of finally breaking the rule of indiscipline.

He said while the city is finding ways to allow peddling in areas to be designated on certain hours, the initial success of the clearing drive can only be sustained with city officials pushing the same. 

“Walang mangyari sa atin kung di tayo magtulongan”, the mayor told fellow city officials after the weekly flag ceremony. 

He said President Aquino, in his order creating a multi-agency body to work for the preservation of the lure of Baguio and the world-renowned Boracay beach in the Visayas, noted the need to prevent use of sidewalks for vending. 

Domogan warned that affected vendors who resort to barricade in protest of  the city’s drive for restoration of order in the market will be disqualified from vending in the areas to be designated for such.

Years back, the mayor earned the ire of peddlers for his clearing the Hilltop Road of obstructions, with some reportedly  threatening not to vote for him in the next elections. 

“If the report of threat is true, I wouldn’t  care if they don’t vote for me as long as we can clear  the roads and passageways in the market,” he had said.

Last week, he acknowledged that the  drive for restoring the simple discipline  that was the mark of Baguio during its formative years is still a long way to go. 

For one, city tourism officer Benny Alhambra called for another round of information campaign on the (anti-) “King of the Road” ordinance introduced by  city councilor Fred Bagbagen three years ago. 

The ordinance requires drivers to fully stop and yield for five seconds before pedestrian lanes for the safety of and as courtesy to those on foot crossing the city’s streets. This regulation has yet to sink in among drivers who also have yet to acknowledge the presence of so-called “blue lanes” or street crossings for the elderly and persons with disabilities who are observing “White Cane” week this month. 

Motorists, on the other hand, claim it’s a two-way traffic  that would also require a crackdown on jaywalkers and pedestrians who are oblivious to stop-and-go signals and cross streets with the red traffic light on.