City market code needs amendment

The Cebu City Market Code has to be amended first before the ID system for stall owners can be implemented, according to market administrator Elpidio dela Victoria.

Dela Victoria said the market code has to be amended first because stall owners would have to secure an ID for P60. The amendment to the code, he said, would make the collection of the ID fee legal.

The ID system at the city's markets was supposed to be implemented last month at the Pasil Market, the pilot area for the project. The system, the first of its kind in the country, requires all vendors doing business in the city's 10 satellite markets to secure and ID. It is meant to monitor market operations, especially in the collection of stall rents. The system would help the market authority easily identify and monitor delinquent stall owners. The system is also eyed to stop the practice of stall owners renting out their stalls to others without informing the city government.

The market ID system is expected to be fully implemented by January 2006. - Mitchelle P. Calipayan