EDITORIAL - Go ahead, evict them

Some vendors occupying stalls along the fence surrounding the Basilica del Santo Niño are again in trouble with City Hall, in a controversy reminiscent of their highly-charged face-off in 2001 with Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

In that controversy, the vendors not only won a favorable court ruling stopping their eviction, they also had on their side the key and crucial element of public sympathy, generated by glaring mistakes Osmeña made in handling the crisis.

One pivotal mistake Osmeña made was to barricade the gates of the church, hoping to shut out churchgoers who make up the bulk of the customers of the vendors, the idea being that if the vendors had no buyers, they had no means for a living. Sooner or later, they will have to go.

The plan naturally backfired. The churchgoing public was on the verge of sending Osmeña to Kingdom Come when the mayor relented. The vendors were given a place at the back of the church where they had to stay in their stalls and not venture out into the street.

That was a fair enough agreement. It was a win-win solution. So how come the vendors are again in trouble with City Hall? Well, the vendors have only themselves to blame. They violated the terms of the agreement. They now use the stalls as mere stockrooms and sell on the street.

So while the elements of the new controversy appear to be the same as the previous one, this time the vendors no longer enjoy the public sympathy they had in 2001. This time they are not seen as the oppressed. This time they are being depicted as violators.

It appears that the vendors have succumbed to that very undesirable Filipino trait of not wanting to stay in line. The vendors are not content with their being confined to a straight row of stalls. Each one wants to be an inch, a foot, ahead of the others.

Being all like-minded, the whole thing naturally fell into a silent race of edging ever forward until they all reached the street, eventually attracting the attention of City Hall. This time we urge Osmeña to go ahead, evict those who never learn the lessons of give-and-take.