200 sidewalk vendors rounded up in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines - City market personnel rounded up around 200 vendors illegally occupying sidewalks in Quezon City during a recent clearing operation. 

About a hundred vendors were dispersed along Luzon Avenue, 50 near the Iglesia ni Cristo central temple in the corner of Commonwealth and Congressional Avenues, and 30 others from Old Balara.    

“It is imperative that we restore order and instill discipline along these areas,” Donato Matias, head of the city’s Market Development Administration Department (MDAD) and tasked to oversee the clearing operation said.

Mounting complaints over traffic congestion and sanitation concerns brought about by illegal vending on the sidewalks of Luzon Avenue prompted the MDAD to launch the clearing operation.

MDAD coordinated the clearing operation with the QC Department of Public Order and Safety, Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, Task Force Commonwealth, the sidewalk clearing operations group of the Metro Manila Development Authority, QC Police District–Station 3 and the barangay councils of Old Balara and Culiat.

Matias said the illegal structures put up by the vendors are also to be blamed for the delay in the construction of the C-5 flyover along Luzon Avenue.

“Prior to the clearing operation, MDAD initiated a series of dialogues and consultations with the affected vendors informing them of the city’s plan to address the different socio-economic problems in their respective areas,” he said.

Earlier, QC also cleared the corner of Commonwealth Avenue to Purok 4 in Barangay Culiat with road obstructions.