P50 or P6K per stall?

MANILA, Philippines — The Cebu City Treasurer’s Office clarified that the Colon Night Market only collects an “arkabala” fee of P50 daily, countering Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover's claim that the collection has been P6,000 in rental fee.

Cebu City Treasurer Emma Villarete confirmed to the media that, upon the request of the City Council to review the previous remittances from the Night Market under the management of the GASA sa Gugma Board, the Treasurer’s Office found that it only collected P50 per night per stall.

In line with the Council’s resolution seeking financial data, Villarete also discovered that neither the city nor the barangay was paying the electricity bills.

“The only thing that we received with the Night Market before is only the Arkabala which is the P50 for the food and P30 for non-food (stalls),” said Villarete.

This year, the dispute over GASA not being reconvened to manage the Night Market operations has been the subject of heated discussions in the Council, particularly by Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover in his capacity as chairman of the committee on markets.

Recently, Villarete said they reached an agreement with the representatives of the vendors to acquire a special permit that will run from October 16 to December 31, this year. Before this agreement, she said they were only collecting the P50 arkabala, the same as in previous years.

In line with the issuance of the special permit, Villarete said vendors will now be required to pay P2,500 for the entire duration of the operation. This amount will serve as the city’s income from the activity. “Nga di’ lang pareha last year nga simple arkabala lang jud,” said Villarete.

Villarete clarified that the arkabala is backed by a tax ordinance that serves as the daily rental fee for non-permanent vendors.

“I don’t know what happened before ngano’ng wa’ jud sila mukuha og special permit, but now amo jud silang gi-request to get a special permit,” said Villarete.

On the reports that Alcover allegedly received about a P6,000 monthly fee per stall being collected from Night Market vendors, Villarete clarified that she does not know such fees, as their office does not collect them.

“Wala nako’y idea ana kay ang amoa is only on the operation of their business as to the area, kinsa ga-manage, kay buot hunahunaon ang Colon is a public road man,” said Villarete.

It was reported that as the questions and concerns surrounding the Cebu City Colon Night Market continue to spark disagreement, Alcover lambasted Mayor Nestor Archival for refusing to temporarily suspend its operations, calling the decision unjustifiable and labeling the current setup as “syndicated.”

In a previous interview, Alcover lamented that he does not understand the mayor’s perspective, stressing that the latter might be misinformed.

Just days before Alcover’s remarks, Archival stated that he was not keen on granting the request to temporarily suspend the Night Market operations—not until the GASA sa Gugma Board convenes, as called for by the City Council.

Archival also expressed skepticism toward the GASA Board, citing reports that it had not been remitting stall rental fees to the city government in recent years.

Alcover, for his part, clarified that it is not the GASA Board’s responsibility to collect rental fees. According to him, as stated in the ordinance, the GASA Board should only serve as a policy-making body.

“Mao’y muplano, muhan-ay sa unsa’y mga kalihokan sa ambulant vendors. So policy-making body, dili collector and GASA in the first place. Ang mangolekta ang City Treasurer,” said Alcover.

He explained that the City Treasurer is the one responsible for collections through “arkabala,” where each stall pays from P25 to P50 per day. Alcover, however, said that instead of focusing on GASA, the mayor should look into reports that the organizers of the Colon Night Market are collecting P6,000 in rental fees per stall.

Alcover added that the mayor, as stated in the ordinance, should serve as the chairman of the GASA Board and should investigate these alleged rental fees. According to him, the stalls being rented along the street are questionable since the space belongs to the government.

“Nganong giparentahan man na nga space man na gobyerno, dalan man na, so possibly kung naa’y rental tingali kana ilang mga tent pananglitan ... but as far sa space sa stall nga gibutangan, P6,000 ang bulan, kinsa may gadawat ana,” said Alcover. /RAE(CEBU NEWS)