Mayors back vendor-clearing drive, but want own methods

Metro Manila Mayors expressed full support yesterday to the campaign of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando to clear the sidewalks of vendors.

However, a number of the mayors said Fernando should allow them to use their own methods in accomplishing the task.

Pasay City Mayor Wenceslao "Peewee" Trinidad expressed reservations about the proposal of Fernando to use kerosene on the goods of the vendors in order to discourage them from continuing their illegal activities.

"I think that they should hold dialogues first. But I assure the vendors that it would cost them less to sell in the markets than stay on the sidewalks," Trinidad said.

The mayor pointed out that he prioritized a crackdown on illegal vendors immediately after he won the recall elections two years ago.

"Within two months of assuming office, the vendors were removed," Trinidad said.

For his part, Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos said he would supports Fernando despite a slight misunderstanding during the latter’s first week in office.

It would be recalled that Abalos lost his cool when operatives of the MMDA removed and confiscated steel barriers installed by Mandaluyong City along the sidewalks of EDSA-Crossing.

Abalos ordered his policemen to apprehend the MMDA operatives and to re-install the barricades in the area.

The two officials settled the issue later, with Fernando apologizing for what he said was a simple misunderstanding.

"We respect each other. You see it takes a real man to be able to apologize for his mistake," Abalos said.

He said the MMDA would be coordinating with local government units (LGUs) first before proceeding with their operations in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Abalos said he was able to successfully convince the sidewalks vendors in Mandaluyong City to move to organized market stall by offering them a loan of P5,000 as start-up capital.

With the markets charging as little as P20 a day, the vendors can easily afford the rental and still earn a decent living, the Mandaluyong mayor said.

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco said he was successful in clearing sidewalks of sidewalk vendors not by compromising with affected groups, but by forcing them to go into the markets.

In a related development, almost 300 vendors from Caloocan City staged a rally in front of the MMDA offices in Makati City to protest the vendor-clearing campaign of Fernando.

Led by Caloocan City Councilor Nathaniel Santiago, the vendors were able to speak with Fernando and raise their demands.

The vendors asked for a moratorium on the clearing activities and called for a series of consultations in order to come up with a solution.

As a compromise, they asked Fernando to allow them to use only half of the sidewalks to sell their wares.

However, the MMDA chief rejected the proposal, saying discussions have already gone on for too long and would serve no purpose.

"The government has a program for the sidewalk vendors, and that is for you to go into the markets," Fernando told them.

He reiterated that the operations of the sidewalk vendors are killing legitimate businesses in the city markets.

Fernando also refused to accept the vendor’s argument that they are extremely poor and would die of poverty once they are removed from their selling areas.

He pointed out that the fact that they are selling goods is a clear indication that they are lucky because they have "entrepreneurial minds."

"Go into the markets. Your businesses won’t be affected by going into the markets," the MMDA chief said.

Meanwhile, the Manila Regional Trial Court has been asked to stop the MMDA from implementing a "kerosene-dousing" campaign against sidewalk vendors.

The Social Justice System (SJS) also asked Judge Reynaldo Ros of RTC Branch 33 to resolve whether or not the campaign of MMDA chairman is lawful and constitutional.

"The court can, in a dispassionate manner, settle a controversy which is the cause of demonstrations in the streets and which may result in senseless violence," the JS said in a four-page petition for a declaratory relief.

The MMDA chief has repeatedly announced that he would order the use of kerosene to destroy the goods and merchandise of sidewalk vendors.

SJS president Samson Alcantara filed the petition with the Manila RTC last Thursday. The case was raffled yesterday. — With Cecille Suerte-Felipe