Bacolod City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod adopted a resolution of the Local Market Committee (LMC) to designate Amelia and Mercedes streets, Brgy. 40, Bacolod City as a venue for daily night market, during their regular session recently.
This is to ensure the continued income and livelihood of about 196 qualified vendors who did not get stalls on the first floor of the Bacolod Libertad Public Market annex building.
The LMC initially recommended that the daily night market will be from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following day, but some councilors noted that the Libertad market operation ends at 7 p.m., so the night market should start after, to prevent unfair competition.
Councilor Celia Flor, chairperson of the SP Committee on Markets and Slaughterhouse, and a member of the LMC, said she will determine the exact operating hours of Libertad market, so there will be no conflict as to the schedule of the night market.
The LMC, chaired by City Administrator Pacifico Maghari III, with City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting Jr. as member, decided during their recent meeting to ask the SP to designate the frontage of the annex building as venue for a night market, exclusive for these displaced vendors, who are also paying the city P15 per square meter of actually occupied area, she said.
Meanwhile, Flor said that of the 287 qualified vendors doing business in the market, only 91 were given slots in the vegetable section of the annex building during the raffle recently conducted by the city.
Councilor Al Victor Espino, on the other hand, suggested that a special task force be formed to ensure cleanliness and enforce peace and order during night market operations.
Councilor Em Ang and Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran also proposed that the LMC study the possibility of uniformly designed stalls or tents for night market vendors, for aesthetic purposes.
Flor said they are discussing plans with the United Architects of the Philippines-Bacolod, to put up uniform tables for the operation of the night market. (Chrysee Semillano via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
