BAGUIO CITY – The Baguio City Market Authority (BCMA) recently outlined the rules and regulations to be observed by hundreds of accredited roving vendors in order to prevent them from being frequently apprehended by enforcers of the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD).
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan disclosed roving vendors will be allowed to enter the barangays adjacent to the barangays where they are registered, provided, that they should continue to be roving and not stationary.
Earlier, roving vendors complained to the city mayor that they are being unjustly arrested by POSD enforcers when they go to vend in the adjacent barangays to the barangays where they are registered.
“It was made clare to the roving vendors that they will be allowed to vend in the adjacent barangays to the barangays where they are registered if they will continue to be roving and that they will not be stationary in certain areas in the barangays,” Domogan stressed.
Furthermore, he said the screening of roving vendors will be stricter this time in order to prevent the accreditation of purported vendors who simply will roam around the barangays to spot areas that they could rob.
At the same time, Domogan said it is worth granting the request of the roving vendors that the P1,200 annual garbage fee being assessed from them by the city treasury office will be waived or reduced because vending is not an easy job and that it is also not a lucrative source of income, thus, the BCMA must seriously study the said request.
Under the BCMA rules, roving vendors must first secure the required barangay clearance from the barangays that they intend to sell their wares before the city government will issue the special permit.
Domogan explained the reason why the city government decided to require roving vendors to secure the appropriate permits from the city government is to closely monitor the vending activities in the city and regulate the proliferation of illegal vendors in the city that tend to ruin its identity as one of the cleanest and greenest cities in the country.
It can be recalled that the city implemented an all-out campaign against the proliferation of ambulant vendors within the city to abide by the marching orders of the Boracay-Baguio Re-development Task Force for the local government to clear the city’s sidewalks from sidewalk vendors who have been clogging the city’s roads and have been described by visitor’s as eye sore.
Domogan reminded barangay officials to ensure that the roving vendors they are issuing clearances are responsible individuals who really want to earn a living and not those persons who simply want to spot houses that they intend to rob during times of the night when people are asleep.
By Dexter A. See
