Belmonte calls for vendors’ summit

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. is calling a "vendors’ summit" this Thursday to address concerns raised by those affected by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) campaign to rid streets of obstructions.

"Yes, that’s what the mayor wants," said City Market Administrator Neil Lina following a dialogue with members of the Metro Manila Vendors Association (MMVA), who picketed City Hall yesterday seeking an audience with the mayor.

He said he has been tasked by the mayor to coordinate with the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to draft a comprehensive plan to address the situation of affected street hawkers.

Lina said that while the MMDA has the legal mandate to clear Metro Manila’s streets of illegal vendors, the city government has the obligation to relocate displaced individuals.

He said Quezon City takes pride in the distinction that it is the only city in the country which passed an ordinance recognizing Executive Order 452, which grants vendors security of tenure in places where they peddle their wares.

But Lina said the EO also provides that major thoroughfares in the metropolis are off-limits to vendors.

He said city hall has just recently completed a comprehensive survey of hawkers in the city. The survey recorded 7,088 hawkers in 356 vending sites spread across the city’s 142 barangays.

He said close to 2,600 vendors peddle their wares in prohibited places.

The MMVA, an organization backed by the militant group Sanlakas, has mounted its own campaign to resist what they said was the MMDA’s "unjust and inhuman" way of clearing Metro Manila’s streets of obstructions.

"We want to participate in any planning session addressing our situation because we are the very people affected by these plans," said MMVA chairman Pedring Padrigon. "All we want is an immediate end to the MMDA clearing operations and a summit among vendors, local governments and other parties that would have an interest in our plight."

He said vendors are human beings who try to earn a living in an honest way. If they violate laws, it is only because they are forced by the poverty to do so.

Padrigon said the MMVA is willing to work with LGUs and other authorities in finding an acceptable solution.