From Under This Hat: Vending

3 MIN READ

By KATHLEEN T. OKUBO

There ought to be a law… against creating another Jadewell experience. Last Monday, there was a request for the continuance and indication for permanence of vending privileges of a certain group of vendors along the sidewalk under that Magsaysay overpass from the Malcolm square (or Peoples’ Park) to the sari-sari section of the public market.

If one has ever passed that way on ordinary days, from the Malcolm Square side; there are the boot-blacks or the shoe-shine boys serving their costumers or watching out for more among the people sitting on the park benches. Then there are those selling plants and flowers meeting the passerby or watching the plants for sale from the park bench.

When one is at the top of the walkway, you have to dodge the vegetables or cooked food in baskets (lab-ba); the tarp or plastic sack spread to show miscellaneous wares neatly arranged for sale; and the blind musicians and lottery ticket vendors – each of them occupying at least one square meter space along the wall of the walk-way.

As one gets down the stairway at the sari-sari side of the public market, you slow down your pace a great deal because of more obstruction on the ground that causes a bottleneck of pedestrian traffic. Most especially in rush hours.

On that end of the overpass along the roadside is a line of flower and ornamental plant vendors, while on the other side along the frontage of the shops is a line of fruit and vegetable vendors until the inner market area.

As insistently drummed-in and repeatedly raised, areas like streets, parks, sidewalks, etc. are “beyond the commerce of man.” Yet, street and sidewalk vendors were for a long time tolerated by the city government. Through the years, when they’re asked, the local police, the city administrator, the market administrator, and even the councilors at one time or another, always added to their justification to allow such system of commerce because “…kaasi da met masapulda nga agbirukmet.” (They are pitiful, they need to make a living too.) Yes, we can be compassionate to the vendors’ plight as a population. For a long time they were our source of freshly harvested lowland vegetables and native sweets, until street commerce has grown to what it is now… products from toothpicks to livestock sold in almost all the available public pedestrian spaces.

Spaces such as that between buildings, sidewalks, overpass, underpass, eskinita and roads are areas reserved to facilitate travel by foot or for vehicles as the case maybe. They have to be, at the very least, safe to prevent bodily harm, wide enough to comfortably accommodate the traffic of both of pedestrians and vehicles.

This is the reason behind planning and design of structures and city spaces before they are built for use.

Earlier, some 20 years ago, when the city population was less than half of what it is now, it was acceptable to most that there were sidewalk vendors in certain places. Even the stall owners in the market tolerated these vendors. That time, they didn’t crowd the passages, pester the passers-by to buy their wares, scold anyone who stands to wait close to their wares. At that time they didn’t also expose the public to vehicular accidents – unlike today when they have occupied the sidewalks, so that pedestrians have to dodge the displayed wares, forcing them off the curb into the road where the drivers are kings and focused on exercising their road right-of-way.

Twenty years ago … there was even space for trees! And sunflowers, and wild scrubs.

Today, there is no longer enough space for the present market-going population in the Baguio Market vicinity at almost any given day of the week.

The least our Honorables at the City’s august body could do is to resolve that no more permits or privileges, or “internal arrangements” be given to anyone or any market group to sell along these public conveyances (even those flush against the wall of the market buildings). And, for local officials to be also resolute at monitoring its implementation instead of “passing the buck” like some of us do – just “wash our hands” and create another Jadesick (Jadewell) experience. #