WITH only a few days before Christmas, Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy assured the relocated vendors near Cogon market that business will pick up for them sooner than later.
“When the relocation of vendors started, there were a bunch of fruit vendors who asked me if they can remain in their old spots but I told them I cannot do that because we already prepared spaces for them (in the new relocation site). I convinced them to just give it a try and in two days they turned a profit (in their new spots),’ Mayor Uy said in Visayan during his radio program ‘Ang Inyong Alagad: Mayor Klarex Uy,’ last Friday.
Mayor Uy said these days after he signed the order creating the night market committee that is tasked to relocate the sidewalk vendors in the city’s public markets.
After the Cogon market, the Night Market committee is looking into clearing the Carmen market of sidewalk vendors.
“When I heard that the Cogon fruit vendors wanted to stay in their new spots, I could only surmise that they earned a profit,” Mayor Uy said in Visayan.
As of now, City Hall’s Night Market committee chaired by former councilor Enrico Salcedo is kept busy monitoring the operations of the relocated vendors including their compliance with requirements set by City Hall such as keeping their designated spaces clean after leaving the site.
The committee is also meeting with business owners whose operations were affected by the relocation of the vendors near their areas.
Those selling firecrackers/pyrotechnics were relocated near the Rodelsa Circle days before Christmas. Mayor Uy said as much as possible they are trying to accommodate the requests of the ambulant vendors including their appeal that they are relocated near the Cogon market site.
However, Mayor Uy said he’s drawing the line when it comes to their products spilling over the sidewalk and into the roads.
“I will as much as possible accommodate the requests of our vendors but if they will insist on their ways that’s another story. Some of the vendors wrote to me asking that they be allowed to sell around the Cogon market site, specifically in the gutter area. But if they do that it’s possible they will spill over to the JR Borja Extension and nearby streets (and we go back to square one),” Mayor Uy said in Visayan.
Mayor Uy previously made it clear that he won’t allow vendors to sell at Capt. Vicente Roa, Daumier, and JR Borja Streets including JR Borja Extension in order to allow the city’s emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances to pass through in responding to emergency situations.
The vendors were relocated to areas where vehicular traffic is deemed less congested. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)
