By RALPH JOHN MIJARES
ROXAS City — Members of the Pueblo de Panay Vendors Association complained about the city government and the township’s plan to confine them somewhere far from the Roxas City Integrated Transport Terminal.
They said the plan will, among others, drive them away from their loyal customers at the terminal — mostly drivers and conductors of public utility vehicles — and thus affect their daily income.
City government officials and the Pueblo de Panay management on Tuesday agreed to designate an area for the ambulant vendors some 800 meters away from the terminal.
Carmen Andrade, the city government’s economic affairs consultant, said the idea came from no less than Pueblo de Panay’s president and chief executive officer, Jose Nery Ong.
In agreeing with the plan, city officials said that Ong must “control and police” the ambulant vendors and that the latter should pay for a special permit to sell at the designated area. With the special permit, Andrade said, the vendors could stay for as long as no one complains about them.
FAR FROM ‘SUKI’
But the whole thing did not sit well with the vendors. Pueblo de Panay Vendors Association president Amalia Rodidillo said Ong himself allowed them to sell at the terminal.
A teary-eyed balut and peanut vendor, 57-year-old Tita Capundan, said she is willing to sit and wait for customers to come by if only to avoid being a “nuisance.”
Andrade earlier said ambulant vendors at the terminal were a “nuisance,” disturbing commuters by approaching and asking them to buy their products.
Capundan lamented that their planned relocation will keep them away from their suki (loyal customers). She also said some commuters who do not have time to go to the stalls were thankful for them.
Among a crowd of complaining ambulant vendors at the terminal yesterday, one told Panay News that they let some drivers and conductors consume their products now and pay for them later.
‘WHY US?’
Another vendor, 69-year-old Gil Bueno, has a makeshift tent where he sells bread, biscuits and junk food, among others. “Sa diin nga terminal ang wala (ambulant) vendors,” he asked. He assured that all his fellow vendors are good people.
Amelita dela Rosa, 62, who also sells balut and peanuts, wondered why the city government seemed to be picking on them. “Ginahingabot nila kami? Sa ano nga rason ayhan?”
Andrade earlier recommended to Mayor Angel Alan Celino to deny the ambulant vendors’ request to let them sell at the terminal’s premises.
She said the vendors will “pose unfair competition” to traders renting stalls at the terminal. “It is our responsibility to protect our lessees so that they will be able to pay [the city] their monthly lease,” she argued.
With the planned relocation, she said, the ambulant vendors will not be a threat to terminal stallholders anymore.
INELIGIBLE FOR PERMITS
Other officials present during Tuesday’s meeting were City Administrator Gilbert Tan, Community Affairs Officer Rommel Lastimoso and terminal manager Lendo Eusalan.
Forty-three members of the vendors association earlier wrote Celino, appealing that they be allowed to sell at the terminal.
Andrade said the vendors should not have assumed that they would be allowed just because they have been selling in various terminals here before.
She said the vendors should have applied for permits to legitimize their operation. However, being ambulant in nature, they are ineligible for a building permit, a fire safety permit and a sanitary permit, among others, she claimed.
Some vendors alleged that their planned relocation favors the terminal stallholders, who were mostly “from the city hall.” Others said they found out too late that all terminal stalls have been occupied.
Andrade clarified that terminal stalls were “available for everyone who is able to pay rent.”
As of this writing, the ambulant vendors remain at the terminal./PN
