The city government underscored that the funds generated from the slight increase in the regulatory fees on the operation of the night market will be used to enhance the delivery of basic services which will also benefit the vendors, among other purposes.
Last May 29, 2022, the City Treasury Office (CTO) started collecting from the participating night market vendors the P500 weekly regulatory fees with the expansion of the slots from 1.5 by 1.5 meters to 2 by 2 meters pursuant to Executive Order (EO) No. 62, series of 2022 issued on May 25, 2022.
Marietta Alvarez, CTO Supervising Administrative Officer and current officer-in-charge of the market division, reported that the increase in the weekly regulatory fees being paid by the night market vendors resulted from a consensus meeting held last May 18, 2022.
She claimed that more than 80 percent of the attendees of the said meeting voted for the increase in the weekly regulatory fees from P350 to P500 after Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong explained to them the reasons on why the local government will be increasing the prevailing fees for this nightly activity.
The CTO official emphasized that the mayor candidly informed them that the city government’s resources was already depleted because of the enormous expenses incurred in the implementation of the aggressive pandemic response that is why city officials want to request for funding support from higher authorities.
According to her, the funds generated from this increase will augment the city’s resources for assistance to individuals in crisis situations, medical aid, among other social welfare programs, projects and activities of the city government.
Alvarez disclosed that prior to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the city government was planning to increase the weekly regulatory fees of the night market operation to around P700 but this was shelved because of the heavy economic losses to jobs and livelihoods due to the pandemic.
After explaining the reasons for the increase in the weekly night market regulatory fees, the mayor left the meeting area to allow the participating vendors to deliberate on the proposed increase and decide on what is acceptable to them.
She emphasized that the previous regulatory fee for the night market is already outdated thus the local government decided to increase this to a reasonable level in consultation with the concerned sectors for their inputs on an acceptable amount they can afford.