Clearing of Carbon Market starts

The city government has started the clearing of Unit II in Carbon Market to give way for the construction of a P135-million ramp in the area.

It began with the demolition last Wednesday of at least 20 huts of squatters in the area, which will in turn become the relocation site for vendors who are scheduled to be evicted from their own locations today.

City Market administrator Racquel Arce said there was no tension during the demolition of the squatters’ houses the other day, as Ermita barangay captain Felicisimo Rupinta explained to them the purpose of such action. Most of these squatters were fire victims from Bato in Ermita.

Today’s target are the vendors. Arce said that the city’s Market Operations Division had allowed them to tear down their stalls voluntarily and those who failed to comply by today will be evicted forcibly and their stalls demolished by the authorities themselves.

“We already informed them and asked for their cooperation but if they refuse to cooperate, then we will be forced to demolish their stalls,” Arce said.

Arce said that the vendors no longer have the reason to refuse to vacate the ramp construction site because the city already prepared a relocation site for them. The city even gave in to their demand for the removal of the site fence to make them still visible to their customers.

The vendors earlier asked Mayor Tomas Osmeña to defer the construction of the ramp until the time their relocation site are cleared.

They even wanted their site to be paved with asphalt to make it a viable place for trading. They added that nearly 1,000 of them would be affected by the construction of the ramp.

Osmeña however stopped listening to more requests from the vendors, saying the city could not delay the project anymore because it is long overdue already. “We must go. This is too much already. This has already become an implementation of talking. Enough of talking,” the mayor said.

City Engineer Antonio Sanchez said his office has already issued to WT Construction the notice to start the project. It was not done immediately however because at the time there were still squatters in the area where the contractor wanted to park its heavy equipment and stock its construction materials.

Sanchez said that after Unit II is cleared of vendors and squatters, the contractor will be able to enter and start the construction.

In 2004, the city has contracted the services of W.T. Construction for the reconstruction of a ramp from F. Escaño to F. Gonzales Streets with a contract price of P134.5 million.

The civil works on the market’s reconstruction was delayed after Young Builders built a fence and refused to allow entry to the area until the city pays it an additional P6 million.  — Wenna A. Berondo/RAE