MANY motorists and pedestrians have expressed approval of the ongoing regulation and relocation of street and sidewalk vendors in the vicinity of the Cogon Public Market. Expectedly so because of the clear improvement in the flow of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic around the market.
Mayor Klarex Uy issued on December 7, 2022, Executive Order No. 139-2022 which created the Night Market Committee that he himself chairs with former Councilor Eric Salcedo ably sitting as his co-chair. This EO ratifies the preparations and implementations already put in place and executed by the then Night Market Team.
While there may still be some refinements to the provisions of this EO which may result in the creation of a Grievance Committee, the core provisions on the functions of the NM Committee are clearly laid down. Each of the involved city government offices has specific assigned tasks to ensure the success of the objectives of the relocation of the vendors.
The Night Market is envisioned to benefit at least four groups, i.e., the motorists who now could traverse the Cogon Market area with ease, and the pedestrians who now could use the sidewalks without fear of being hit by errant motorists.
The vendors themselves are also among the primary beneficiaries of the Night Market. They now could sell their goods in well-lit and sectionalized divisions of the relocation areas.
And of course, the marketgoers will also expectedly find it much easier to shop around and be assured that the quantity of what they buy in the night market is weighed accurately because the City Finance Office will be calibrating the vendors’ weighing scales.
Everything in the Night Market is not in a bed of roses. The relocation of vendors has its own share of birth pains.
There are vendors who insist on staying in their current spaces on sidewalks, claiming that they have been selling there for some 20 or 30 years already. But the recalcitrant ones are a dime a dozen so to speak and will be addressed by the NM Committee with firm hands.
It is a gargantuan task being faced by the Night Market Committee. Mayor Klarex Uy is definite about the directions and policies he challenged the Night Market Committee with.
In his words when he spoke to the vendors, “dili mo karatehon pero ikarga inyong baligya kung dili mo magpatoo” expressing dismay that his four-and-a-half months of tolerance allowing vendors to sell in the sides prior to the night market set-up was blatantly violated.
There’s a lot of work and tasks still waiting to be done. The Carmen Market vendors will be next.
