QC offers 2,000 stalls for vendors

Quezon City officials said yesterday the city has close to 2,000 available stall spaces in the city’s public and private markets for street vendors displaced by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) clearing drive.

QC market administrator Neil Lina told The STAR around 250 stall spaces are open for occupancy in eight of the city’s public markets and another 1,700 stalls are available in the city’s private markets.

"The rental fee is quite cheap in public markets, ranging from P50 to P70 a month. The rental fees in private markets are of course, a little more steep," said Lina, who is set to meet leaders of various vendors’ associations in the city today to address their plight in the wake of the MMDA’s campaign.

Lina, head of the newly-created Market Development and Administration Department, is coordinating with the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and the Department of Labor and Employment to draft a comprehensive plan to address the situation of affected street hawkers.

Quezon City holds the distinction of being the only city in the country which passed an ordinance recognizing Executive Order 452, which granted vendors security of tenure.

City Hall has just completed a comprehensive survey which recorded 7,088 hawkers in 356 vending sites spread out across the city’s 142 barangays.

Meanwhile, Metro Manila Vendors Association chairman Pedring Fadrigon said vendors may not be willing to avail of stall spaces "because they only sell small items like candies, cigarettes and refreshments."

Fadrigon, who heads one of the largest alliance of vendors’ associations in the metropolis, said the MMDA campaign is hurting all small vendors who make a living along Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares – a practice prohibited by local ordinances.

"We also want to find solutions to the problem," Fadrigon said. "But local officials should also acknowledge our right to participate in any planning session concerning our situation."