Permit cancellation of erring Baguio market vendors set

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan warned erring leaseholders in the city’s public market that the city government will be constrained to cancel their lease contracts if they continue to violate rules and regulations governing operation of the facility.

“We will sustain the cleaning and clearing operations inside the public market because we want to clear our show window from obstructions that taint the overall image of the city in the local, national and international scenes,” Domogan said.

Massive cleaning and clearing operations inside the public market and all roads within the central business district started Thursday.

          

The mayor said there were no longer spaces for lease inside the public market facility, thus, local residents must not be tempted to sub-lease stalls of legitimate leaseholders because the rentals being collected from them are excessive and that the same was also illegal that could result to cancellation of original lease contract once the sub-leasing will be validated and proven.

            

He said the cleaning and clearing is in consonance to the Baguio-Boracay Re-Development Plan initiated by President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and one of concerns identified by two ranking Palace officials on proliferation of sidewalk vendors and untidy market.

            

Aside from cleaning and clearing the market and sidewalks from ambulant vendors and over extension of stalls and establishments, the city’s composite team will paint the allowable vending areas and the allowed .70 meters extension so that there will be uniformity inside the market.

            

Domogan said the local government will hire additional personnel of the public order and safety division (POSD) who will be assigned in various sectors of the market and streets within the central business district to strictly monitor compliance of vendors.

            

He said ambulant vendors will be accommodated in identified vending areas to be validated by the Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA) provided they adhere to rules, particularly vending time from 5 to 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. onwards.

Ambulant vendors who were cooperative in the cleaning and clearing operations will be given priority to sell in the pinpointed vending areas but they must regularly pay the regulatory fees, make sure that their vending areas are clean after vending time and they are not allowed to rent their spaces to other vendors.