BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan announced that the local government will aggressively implement the proper zoning in Blocks III and IV of the public market once all on-going improvement projects in the said areas will be completed.
The local chief executive admitted that there was supposed to be zoning in the said areas of the public market after the transfer of vendors in the said structures but it was put on hold following the implementation of various projects that is geared towards improving the state of the existing market structures.
“We will not hesitate to implement the required zoning of Blocks III and IV to present repeated complaints from the vendors that some of them do not have sales because the vendors located in the frontage reportedly sell assorted goods that compete with the ones inside. We already made the necessary study on the matter and we will implement the said zoning once all the improvement projects in the city’s facilities shall have been completed,” Domogan stressed.
Earlier, some vendors whose stalls are located inside the two blocks have time and again complained that people do not go inside the structures to buy their desired goods from them because there are vendors in the frontage who are allowed to sell assorted goods contrary to existing rules and regulations in the market, thus, the need for the local government to implement the required zoning in the area.
Among the on-going proj3cts in the market area include the improvement of the Rillera building, the expansion of the roofing of the existing structures of Block III and IV and the roofing for the walkways leading to the said parts of the city public market.
Domogan admitted there has been already conflict among the vendors regarding the proposed zoning of the said parts of the city public market but the local government remains committed to implement what will be the best not only for the vendors but also for the people going to buy their desired goods in the market.
According to him, city officials understand the predicament of the affected vendors in some parts of the public market that is why it is important for the concerned departments to guarantee the completion of all the pending projects in the area so that the Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA) will start implementing the zoning of the vendors to put order in the city’s show window.
He underscored that the local government must make sure that vendors will be able to earn from selling their goods in the different sections of the public market by properly zoning them so that there will be order and decency in the market even without the delayed implementation of the desired rehabilitation of the facility to be at part with the new market structures in developed localities in the different parts of Northern Luzon.
He called on t5he vendors in the market not to try to get one over their fellow vendors and deprive them of their chance to earn income since the stalls that were awarded them by the local government are still owned by the city and that the government has the right to revoke the rights granted them for their blatant violations.
By Dexter A. See
