BAGUIO CITY – Members of the local legislative body directed the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) to conduct an in-depth investigation on the presence of carnival rides and facilitate the closure of the same considering that it was not allowed in the approved conditions for the conduct of a month-long trade fair in the area.
Most local legislators raised an uproar over the sudden put up of carnival rides near the Tourist Police Unit (TPU) of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) without the expressed authority from the local legislative body because what it previously approved was for the conduct of a trade fair to generate funds for the anti-drug programs of the City Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) for a maximum period of one month.
The councilors also requested that the August body must be furnished of the notarized contracts between the local government and the trade fair operators to ascertain whether or not the provision on the presence of a carnival in the trade fair area was inserted to suit the interest of whoever authorized the carnival rides in the said place.
Local legislators raised the fact that it will be unfair to the carnival operator within the children’s playground if there will be an unauthorized carnival in another area of the park which was never approved by the council because there will be competition between the said operators.
According to the aldermen, one of the trade operators was the one responsible for the put up of the unauthorized carnival despite knowing that there is already an operational carnival in the children’s playground.
The councilors asserted that the CEPMO and CSWDO personnel should work together for the immediate stoppage of the unauthorized carnival operation in the area because it was never part of the approved trade fair pursuant to Resolution No. 094, series of 2018.
Aside from the authority to operate the carnival rides in the trade fair area, the local legislators also want to know whether the said rides were issued safety permits by a competent safety expert like what was done to the defective rides of the carnival operator in the children’s ground and if there was a business permit issued for such operation.
It can be recalled that the city council approved a resolution authorizing the conduct of a month-long trade fair along Juan Luna Drive within Burnham Park extending up to the area near the BCPO-TPU purposely to generate funds which could be used by the CSWDO in the implementation of the needed interventions for drug surrenderers wherein some of the resources will be spared for the needs of the dialysis patients of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC).
The two trade fair operators were required to immediately deposit! million each to the account of the CSWDO prior to the operation of the trade fair so that the problem on the non-remittance of the city share which happened last year will not be repeated again this time.
The trade fair is expected to expire before the end of the month and local legislators remain optimistic that there will be no extension that will be granted to the operators for them to continue trading in the area so that it will be opened for public use in the coming weeks.
The trade fair operators will be ordered to dismantle their stalls as soon as the month-long period granted to them to do business will expire pursuant to the approved resolution.
By Dexter A. See
