CEBU, Philippines - A new public market will be constructed in Mandaue City before the year ends.
City Administrator Musolini Suliva said the new market, which is estimated to worth P300 million, will rise in Barangay Centro.
The proposed market will be constructed at the site of the previous one which caught fire way back 2004.
Affected market vendors were then relocated to the P400 million public market at the back of the City Sports and Cultural Complex in January 2012.
However, the said market was again badly damaged when it was hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake last October 15, 2013, causing market vendors to be displaced yet again.
Mayor Jonas Cortes supposedly wanted the city government to construct a "one-stop-shop" showcasing the city's products at the old market in Barangay Centro but the said plan was aborted when the earthquake occurred and badly affected most of the city's buildings, to include the market.
Suliva said the mayor instead decided to build the new market back at its old site in Centro after listening to the clamor of the market vendors who said the site was an ideal place for them.
Mosulini added that the mayor has prioritized the construction of the new market because these vendors are also giving income to the city.
It was also learned that after the earthquake, some of the 1,200 market vendors also lost their livelihood as they no longer had a place to display their goods and they had been waiting until now for the construction of a new market so they can again go back to their business.
At present, according to Suliva, the market vendors are selling their stuffs at an open space in between the sports complex and the market which was damaged by earthquake.
Some are illegally selling their stuffs at the dilapidated old market in Centro and have always been the subject of apprehensions by the city demolition team, he added. (FREEMAN)