Underground economy booms

The Labor Day protests yesterday presented a good sales opportunity for small entrepreneurs of the country’s underground economy.

Hats, caps, towels and fans to ward off the scorching summer heat, bottled water, soft drinks and bottled iced tea to refresh many a tired protester’s body, and cigarettes and candy for those killing time were among the various items sold by ambulant vendors in Manila, one of the any places where protesters converged to commemorate the Philippines’ 104th Labor Day.

It is on such occasions, including mass protest actions in other parts of Metro Manila, that vendors flock to crowds in an effort to earn a bit more than the usual day’s wage.

One vendor selling hand-woven straw hats for P10 to P20 each at Plaza Salamanca on T. M. Kalaw street, where former President Joseph Estrada’s supporters converged, said business was brisk and that her wares sold out quickly.

The hat vendor said she had to go back to Quezon City to get more supplies, which she would again sell in the hopes of doubling her daily sales.

A bottled water vendor from Caloocan City, who also trooped to Plaza Salamanca, used a promotional gimmick to draw customers: He wore a headband that bore the words "Palayain si Erap."

The water vendor shared a trade secret: that by sympathizing with the protesting groups, he was assured that his goods got sold more quickly.

"Kasi iniisip ng mga bumibili na kasama ka rin nila kaya, kaysa sa iba bumili, sa iyo na. Kaya lang, mahirap dahil magmula sa Club Filipino sa San Juan nakasunod na ako sa kanila (This is because the customers believe you are with them in their cause so, instead of buying from another vendor, they buy from you. The only thing that made this difficult was that I had been following them from Club Filipino in San Juan)," the vendor said.

This vendor was even seen raising his clenched fist in a show of support for the pro-Estrada protesters and joining in their slogan chanting.

Another vendor who sOLD face towels told The STAR she had earned her usual daily income of P160 in just a few hours: "Dati maghapon ko na kinikita iyan sa pagtitinda ng face towel sa may Roxas Boulevard. Pero ngayon ilang oras lang parang kinita ko na ang pang-maghapon kong benta (It usually takes all day for me to earn that much by selling face towels on Roxas Blvd. Now, it took just a few hours for me to earn practically all my profits for the whole day)," she said.

Some enterprising vendors even put up an ukay-ukay (secondhand clothes) store, flea market style, along the sidewalks of Plaza Salamanca, where protesters who forgot to bring extra clothes for the march were drawn into buying spare t-shirts.

These vendors belong to what business books describe as an underground economy, because although the products they sell are taxed, these traders do not have a permanent place of trade, which means their income from sales goes undeclared and untaxed.

Drawn by crowds of protesters, these enterprising ambulant vendors selling food, beverages and dry goods are as much a part of mass actions in the Philippines as militant groups, loudspeakers, journalists and riot police.