Manggahan cleared of vendors today

The Quezon City government and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will push through today with the clearing of Manggahan in Commonwealth Avenue of some 2,000 ambulant vendors who have mostly been blamed for the heavy traffic in the area.

"We will definitely push through with the clearing of Manggahan unless vendors lobby the MMDA," said Mario Sanchez, assistant head of the Department of Public Order and Safety (DPOS), which is under the office of the city mayor.

However, MMDA Chairman Benjamin Abalos virtually assured people yesterday that nothing could prevent the clearing up operations. In a radio interview, Abalos said he would not allow the vendors to re-occupy the area.

At the Kapihan sa Maynila forum yesterday, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the city government was mapping up measures to improve the flow of traffic in Manggahan, which was clogged with vendors during the Yuletide season.

Belmonte said he is confident that the traffic congestion would soon ease up after the "Christmas vendors" left the area last week. He said the number of vendors tripled during the Yuletide season. "The flow of traffic worsened after the number of vendors tripled, but we will address it," Belmonte said. "Now that the Christmas season has ended, the number of vendors is back to 1,800. By middle of this month, Commonwealth Road will be expanded so we have to move people out of Litex and Manggahan."

The vendors have been occupying nearly two of the four lanes of Commonwealth Avenue, causing heavy traffic jams. Sanchez said the clearing operations would include Katuparan Road all the way to the IBP-Litex Road. – Nikko Dizon and Cecille Suerte Felipe