Marikina sidewalk shoppers face fine

The Marikina City government added more teeth yesterday to its campaign against sidewalk vendors by levying a P300 fine on residents found patronizing them.

Mayor Maria Lourdes Fernando decided to fine the buying public amid reports that constant police raids on sidewalk vendors were ineffective.

City Ordinance No. 201, passed in 1997, banned vending on the sidewalks because it not only causes traffic congestion but is also a health hazard since the perishable products sold there are not fresh.

The main target of the law were the sidewalk vendors, but the city government found it ineffective because a large number of ‘patronizers’ who are after cheap merchandise sold in the side streets.

"We made some amendments to the law, and this time we included the buyers," a staffer of Fernando said.

Under the amended law, residents caught buying goods from sidewalk vendors would automatically be fined P300 or be reprimanded in public. A monitoring team from City Hall claimed sidewalk vendors are rampant at wet markets like NGI in Parang, in Barangays Concepcion and in Bayan-Bayanan. "The vendors have courage to do their illegal selling because the public patronizes them," the monitoring team member said. "But with the amended law, we’ll crack down on the buyers."

The prohibition, Fernando’s staffer said, is aimed at enforcing discipline. Marikina is known for strict enforcement of laws on cleanliness, illegal squatters, and colorum tricycles. — Non Alquitran