Dave Achondo
IN the past weeks, I have seen changes at Cogon market. For those who have yet to visit the area, it is the most busiest public market in Cagayan de Oro as well as the most traffic-prone area in the city because it is where almost all PUVs, PUJs, among others, pass through.
The recent actions and new rules imposed through the city council committee on markets chaired by Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya and carried out by the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) and the City Economic Enterprise Department (CEED) have been called by council minority floor leader Leon Gan as “anti-poor.” Hag-as!
I understand that it is hurting street vendors around Cogon Market who could not afford to set up their own stalls inside the public market.
However, isn’t vending on the streets and sidewalks illegal specially when it causes major issues, and traffic is only one of them. Are we “still” promoting illegal practices?
The agencies being criticized are only doing their job in the first place by implementing their mandates given to them by the local government.
The RTA is mandated to instill to the citizens road courtesy and discipline especially to motorists, commuters and pedestrians in order to make the roads and streets of CDO safe and clear of obstructions.
Meanwhile, CEED is mandated to conduct and adopt sound management methods in order to make the city’s enterprise boom. They are the one governing the city’s enterprise unit such as public markets, slaughterhouse and livestock auction market, bus, jeepney and tricycle terminals, playgrounds, cemetery, public parks, etc..
How would others respect the rules if even the government that’s supposed to impose them tolerate violations and won’t even enforce? How would people respect the rules if officials are the ones criticizing the law enforcement by calling it “oppressing the poor”?
If the RTA won’t do its job correctly, they get criticize. If they do their job properly, they still get criticized. This view applies to each government agency. It just doesn’t make sense.
Gan, during a radio program, said he considered RTA, CEED and Nacaya’s move “unfair, one-sided, imbalanced and unjust to the poor.”
With those words I would like to point out a few things.
First, put yourself in the position of the vendors inside the public market who pay taxes and rent. How would they sell their products if outside, there is someone selling the same products on the sidewalk illegally? How would they be able to pay the bills? Isn’t that unfair to them?
Second, as a driver, you have the right to use the road, but due to these illegal sidewalk vendors, the road becomes narrower and narrower, and you can’t do anything about it but complain while you’re stuck in a traffic jam. It seems to me the illegal street vendors have more right to use the roads than the drivers themselves. Isn’t that one-sided and imbalanced?
Lastly, how about people who follow the rules of the road and the laws of the land? As I recall, don’t we follow the same laws and rules implemented by our government? But why would you say it is unjust to them? How about us who fall in line? Asa amoang hustisya ana?
Call it unfair, one-sided, imbalanced, unjust and anti-poor all you want, but the fact still remains that this city needs help, and by strictly implementing the rules and regulations it gets the help it needs. We are a growing city, and politicians should, at some point, say enough is enough.
Roads are not an extension of the public market. Period!
(You want to know what I consider “anti-poor”? It’s the Commission of Higher Education’s plans to have all college dropouts and high school graduates repeat high school all over again under the K-12 system. That’s “anti-poor.”)
