City losing more than P200K a day in market fraud – mayor

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The city government is losing more than P200,000 per day to illegal activities involving stalls here at the city public market.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said an ongoing inventory and audit of stalls at the market uncovered more glaring irregularities than what was initially reported to him.

“It was amazing really as there were stalls paying P4,500 monthly to the city but are being sub-leased for P100,000 and others being charged by the city for P300 but subleased for P5,000 to P10,500,” he bared in his Ugnayan press briefing Feb. 26.

“There were even those who were able to sell their rights over the stalls, although non-existent, for as much as P500,000 so the P200,000 that we estimated earlier is just a conservative figure.”

The mayor said the city will take steps to stamp out these long-standing schemes of willful subleasing and selling their awarded stalls and adopt a foolproof system to manage the market.

He encouraged occupants who bought rights or are subleasing the spaces to file complaints to penalize those who enriched themselves at the expense of the property of the city assuring that they will be protected by the city government.

                The ongoing purge of the illegal vendors and the adoption of the new management system is in line with the market redevelopment project currently being worked out under the public-private partnership scheme.

                Regardless of who will win the bid, the city will continue to own and manage the market place, the mayor said, thus the purge is inevitable.

In face of the complexities of the anomalies involving the stalls, there were suggestions at the city council to cancel all the leasehold rights and start from scratch which the mayor agreed may be one of the options for the city.

               “But it will all depend on the final results of the inventory although we should also be fair to the legitimate vendors who are law-abiding,” he said.

                Under the city’s market ordinance, the city can cancel the award of the stallholder who will be found to have sub-leased his or her awarded stall or those delinquent stallholders.

The vacated stalls are required to be subjected to public bidding wherein the person with the highest bid price based on the ceiling pegged by the city will be the one to be awarded the said stall.

For stalls that were vacated by delinquent stallholders, the minimum bid of interested individuals will be the accumulated unpaid rentals, including surcharges and interests.

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Mayor Magalong reiterated that the welfare of the vendors at the city market is the city’s main consideration of the city government in its current efforts to pursue the long-delayed redevelopment of the city public market.

The mayor said there is no truth to claims that the city government will leave the management of the city market and the fate of the market vendors at the hands of a private company.

“I am assuring you that even if we pursue the public-private partnership in the market development, the city market will continue to be owned and managed by the city government and not the private company,” the mayor said.

As to the claims of displacement, the mayor said legitimate vendors will be retained and their well-being prioritized in the venture which he said will also put a stop to the illegal activities of unscrupulous stallholders that have long been happening in the area.

The mayor said he ordered the conduct of an audit and inventory of the stalls to determine the exact number of legitimate ones even as he encouraged those occupants who bought rights or are subleasing the spaces to file complaints assuring that they will be protected by the city government. 

He also welcomed the plan of the vendors’ groups to submit their own offer to undertake the project under the PPP joint venture modality saying the city is eagerly awaiting their unsolicited proposal.

He said the vendors groups have two chances to tender their offer: first at the initial stage where they can submit an unsolicited proposal which along with the other offers will be evaluated by the city to select the best one to be given the original proponent status; and second at a later stage when they challenge the original proposal.

The city just recently received offers from Robinsons Land Corporation and SM Prime Holdings Inc. and is expecting two more big firms to follow suit.

The city’s decision to accept proposals from big companies triggered criticisms from some quarters which raised doubts and apprehension not just on the fate of the existing vendors but also on the future of small businesses around the market complex.

The mayor however assured that the city will continue to decide on the fate of the vendors and assured that the development project will augur well for the other businesses in the area.

“Most of those opposing the project are those whose illegal activities are threatened by the cleansing and we are going to make sure that only those with legitimate claims will remain,” he said. 

The mayor said the city is still in the process of accepting unsolicited proposals for evaluation and selection of the best one to be given the original proponent status and with whom the city will negotiate.

After this, the city will craft the terms of reference for publication and will then accept other proposals to challenge the offer of the original proponent. 

The mayor said they target to start the project implementation by the third quarter of the year and complete the project or at least the market section of it by 2022.