Baste assures legitimate Agdao vendors of livelihood protection
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 October) — Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte has assured that legitimate vendors at the Agdao Public Market here would not lose their livelihood despite their current “difficult situation.”
“Dili baya lalim nga magnegosyo ka diha, motuman ka, mosunod gyud ka. Protektahan nato ang mga naga-comply ug mga nagatuman na mga vendors (It’s not easy to run a business inside the market. You need to comply and follow the rules. We should protect those compliant vendors),” Duterte said in his Basta Dabawenyo podcast posted on his Facebook page CM Baste Duterte on Sunday night.
Duterte issued the pronouncement after Councilor Edgar Ibuyan Jr., chairperson of the Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization, who was also Duterte’s guest in the podcast, said that Agdao vendors, mostly those who do business at the second floor, have requested again to temporarily relocate outside the public market, particularly facing Lapu Lapu St.
The Agdao public market entrance faces the Lapu-Lapu St. side, while the exit faces the Wilfredo Aquino St. side.
The vendor’s request came even as the “walkalator” inside the public market has been functioning since June.
“Diperensyado na pod ilang kita (Their profit is not much), so they asked again to [sell at the] front side of the market,” Ibuyan said.
Before the walkalator became functional, the market administration had allowed the second floor vendors, who are mostly selling dry goods, to temporarily sell at the ground floor at certain times of the day so they could earn some “decent money.”
The ground floor of the new building is currently assigned to the meat, fish, and poultry vendors.
In March, a resolution signed by Ibuyan stated that it will request the City Economic Enterprise to allow vendors from the second floor to occupy the first floor for a prescribed time, from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Duterte said that to solve the vendors’ problems, constant communication is needed between the market administrators and vendors until they can come up with a solution.
Ligaya Uba, president of the Agdao Public Market Dry Goods Section, said they were “forced to sell vegetables to earn profit.”
She noted that the variety or groceries section located on the second floor of the market’s new building is far from the vegetables section, which is on the ground floor at the other building currently undergoing renovation.
The P850 million renovation of the public market was stopped in its third phase due to “lack of funds.” Another building will be established to host the fruit and vegetable sections, which were temporarily transferred to the second floor of the new market building. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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