BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA) approved the reduction of the fees collected by the local government from roving vendors to increase their take-home income.
The reduction of fees was agreed on by the BCMA members during their meeting Tuesday upon the request of Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., Chairperson of the City Council Committee on Market, Trade and Commerce.
From the total P1,052 per quarter being collected as regulatory fees for the roving vendors, the BCMA approved the reduced special permit fees to only P350 per quarter in order to provide a relief for the vendors relying on vending around the city as their primary source of income.
However, the BCMA pointed out that the roving vendors must delineated their roving areas themselves to avoid overlapping and thus accommodated more vendors.
The BCMA considered the argument of Yangot that while it is understood that the taxes being paid by the roving vendors actually add to the revenue collections of the city for its administrative operations, the city must also have to look into their economic status.
“For a roving vendor who struggles every day in the streets just to make ends meet, the amount of P1,052 paid quarterly is evidently burdensome for them,” Yangot stated in his letter to the BCMA chaired by Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan.
According to him, the local government allowed the vendors to sell as family support, thus, the special permit fee of P350 should be collected from them but the P702 business permit fee should be removed.
Earlier, the roving vendors appealed to the local government to reduce the regulatory fees being collected from them because their daily income from their vending is sometimes not enough to sustain the daily requirements of their respective families.
The BCMA is the governing body over the affairs of the city public market and satellite markets in the different barangays of the city.
The BCMA appealed to the roving vendors to already start their self-delineation to avoid frequent complaints from them on issues of overlaps which might constrain the body to revoke the permits earlier granted to them to sell in the different barangays of the city.
By Dexter A. See
