Vendors plead; Baguio defers road clearing

By Liza Agoot

BAGUIO CITY – City officials here agreed to delay for six months the road clearing operation on sidewalks to give newspaper stand owners and other vendors time to look for a better location where they can do business.
    “We will allow selling of newspapers, repair watches on sidewalks for six months until the end of June while another location is being identified for their relocation,” Allan Abayao, chief of the Permits and Licensing Division, said on Wednesday, in summarizing an earlier dialogue that transpired with vendors.
    The city government is implementing the Dept. of the Interior and Local Government memorandum circular 2019-121 that complies with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to clear the roads of illegal structures for the full utilization of the public.
    Aside from the national directive, a city ordinance passed in 1984 and a 1990 resolution both say right of way is reserved for public use and is beyond the commerce of men.
    The six-month extension is in consideration of the difficult financial situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
    The time given will permit vendors to sell newspapers, including few pieces of candies, face masks, and face shields, and earn a living.
    They were however cautioned about selling products that occupy spaces beyond the one-meter by half-meter space as these would be confiscated by the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD).
    The same arrangement was given to the sidewalk watch repair stall owners.
    The vendors are being asked to look for other areas that do not obstruct the flow of pedestrians.
    During the dialogue, the vendors agreed use of the sidewalk will end by July 1, 2021. However, they are required to update their business permits before Dec. 31.
    They also agreed that while being allowed, vendors need to maintain a clean, orderly, and visually pleasing newspaper and watch repair stands.
    While the vendors were given time, the city will implement the .60-meter setback inside establishments facing sidewalks, disallowing clients from being on the sidewalk while transacting with the shop staff
    Newsmen in the city made a noise for the newspaper vendors in Baguio upon information that they will be removed on the sidewalks.
    The media’s umbrella organization in Baguio, the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC) said newsstands give the residents easy access to community and national newspapers and publications that have been part of the city’s landscape for many decades.
    Gloria Hamada, publisher, and chief operations officer of the Baguio Midland Courier, Cordillera’s oldest community newspaper, said she agrees with providing order in the city.
    To address the “eyesore” issue that is being thrown at the newsstands, she offered to provide uniforms for the vendors as an initiative to improve the aesthetics.
    She said that the six months will give them time to help the newsstand vendors look for suitable locations that do not violate the rules.
    “For humanitarian purposes, give us time to help the newspaper sellers. It's been difficult enough with the pandemic and cutting their only source of meager income will affect them more,” she told city officials during the dialogue. -- PNA