BACOLOD City – Ambulant vendors will continue doing business along the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Economic Highway (BANOCEH) in the boundary of barangays Sum-ag and Cabug here.
This comes after the public consultation conducted by the City Council committees on trade and industry and markets yesterday in relation to the status of these ambulant vendors.
Councilor Vladimir Gonzales, the chairperson of the committee on trade and industry, led the consultation, along with Councilor Celia Flor, the chairperson of the committee on markets.
Gonzales said the vendors can still continue doing business in the area at their own risk.
“Whatever activities there sila ang ma-risgo,” he added.
He explained that the city government cannot recognize the BANOCEH vendors group – Bag-ong Dalan Cabug Alliance of Small Entrepreneurs (BDCASE) – because the area where they are selling is along the highway and prone to accidents.
Nonetheless, Gonzales said they will help the group on how they could lease an area from a nearby private property.
“Ang intervention lang man for the meantime is to look for an alternative nga nearby sa area,” the councilor said.
Earlier, BDCASE sought recognition from the city government and asked for a place conducive to sell their products.
Engr. Jeffrey Perez, BDCASE president, in a letter dated July 1, 2024 and addressed to Gonzalez, stated that they hope their group would be recognized as a proper entity as any organization must be.
For his part, Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez had said he does not see any problem with the ambulant vendors operating at the economic highway.
“Wala pa man, indi pa abri. As soon as we have opened it officially and when they become a cause of traffic, we will have to regulate them,” the mayor said.
The more than P7-billion BANOCEH will officially open to travelers on August 30, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways./PN
