Female politician linked to illegal vendors on Taft Avenue

MANILA, Philippines - A female politician in southern Metro Manila and three others have been linked to a syndicate collecting payoffs from vendors on Taft Avenue, insiders said yesterday.

At least 3,000 illegal vendors have practically shut down a kilometer-long stretch of Taft Avenue, spreading from Libertad market.

Aside from the politician, a son of a local official, a former Bureau of Immigration (BI) employee and a national government official also reportedly receive regular payoffs from the organizations that control the vendors, one source said.

Stall owners said they regularly remit P300 each day to “Jojo,” the ex-BI employee. The local official’s son, according to another source, also serves as the conduit to the illegal vendors who have taken over Taft Avenue.

According to city hall records, only 300 vendors from Libertad market pay taxes.

Foreign traders ‘escorted, protected’

Meanwhile, a team of agents from the BI and the National Bureau of Investigation arrested last week 46 illegal and undocumented foreigners who were reportedly “escorted and protected” when they started selling goods at a mall in Baclaran in January.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez has ordered city police chief Senior Superintendent Ariel Andrade to crack down on the syndicate collecting payoffs from illegal vendors in the crowded Baclaran district – a popular destination for bargain hunters and devotees of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help at the Redemptorist Church.

He also directed Andrade to solve the traffic gridlocks and rampant crimes along Redemptorist Road, Quirino Avenue and the service road of Roxas Boulevard – the three main roads surrounding the church.

Olivarez said he was told that thousands of foreign and local illegal vendors, reportedly protected by the syndicate, are again building kiosks in the area to take advantage of the Christmas shopping season.

He also appealed to the leaders of vendors’ groups in Baclaran not to pay the city’s market and business permit departments instead of the syndicate.

Olivarez added that all roads leading to the church must have fewer vendors and more space for motorists, commuters and churchgoers at all times.

He called on to the barangay officials to help his administration “recover” and open up Baclaran roads that have been almost impassable in the past decades due to the presence of illegal vendors.

Olivarez instructed Barangay Baclaran chairman Dulio Cailles to dismantle several illegal transport terminals that cause traffic jams in the area and arrest barkers who collect payoffs from jeepney and bus drivers.