ILOILO City – Vendors here were given seven days beginning yesterday to voluntarily leave the sidewalks or the city government’s demolition teams would be dismantling their structures.
During a meeting yesterday, Mayor Jerry Treñas assured them of P5,000 financial assistance each.
The clearing of sidewalks and roads ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte is seen to dislocate an estimated 1,500 vendors here.
Around 600 of these sidewalk vendors could be found around the Iloilo Terminal Market, Iloilo Central Market and downtown streets.
“I seek your cooperation. This road and sidewalk clearing is happening all over the country as a result of President Duterte’s directive. We cannot do otherwise but follow,” Treñas told the vendors he gathered at the Jubilee Hall of the city government.
There is an ongoing inventory to determine those qualified for the financial assistance.
Treñas also told the vendors they could avail themselves of livelihood and skills training offered by the city government’s Public Employment Service Office in partnership with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
The skills training is for food processing, dressmaking, massage therapy, welding, masonry, and carpentry, among others.
Memorandum Circular 2019-121 issued by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) gives local chief executives 60 days to comply with the President’s directive to clear roads, sidewalks and rights-of-way of obstructions.
The President issued the order on the last week of July.
Non-compliance would result in the filing of appropriate administrative charges pursuant to Section 60 (c) of the Local Government Code of 1991 and other existing laws and policies.
Treñas told sidewalk vendors they could relocate to a vacant lot on JM Basa Street or to the Eusebio Villanueva Building (also known as International Hotel Building).
Fernando De Asis, president of the association of sidewalk vendors at Fort San Pedro, said more than 60 members would be displaced.
While they welcomed the P5,000 cash assistance, De Asis said this may not last long.
“Ang amon gusto may masayluhan kami para stable amon palangabuhian. Amo man lang ina amon nasaligan para sa pang adlaw-adlaw namon,” De Asis said.
Fifty-year-old Tibay Ilosendo, an Ati sidewalk vendor for 25 years, was emotional.
“Wala kami mahimo kon pahalinon kami. Pero diin na lang kami ‘ya? Dapat hatagan kami sang pwesto maski gamay lang,” she said.
Ilosendo is her family’s breadwinner. She said must have a stable source of income to support her sick mother and a child who is now in college.
With barely a month left before the end of the 60-day presidential ultimatum, “60 to 70 percent” of major streets in this southern city have already been cleared of obstructions, according to the city government’s Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO).
“Wala na kita makita dalagko nga mga obstructions,” said PSTMO head Jeck Conlu.
But he admitted some of the demolished structures have returned.
“We will not stop. We will continue clearing roads,” Conlu said.
Secondary and barangays roads need to be cleared, too, he added.
Meanwhile, in the campaign against illegal parking on streets, Conlu said his personnel’s apprehension already reached a thousand.
PSTMO and the Task Force on Anti-Squatting and Illegal Structures are banking on the cooperation of barangays in the road clearing./PN
