Council:Farmers should not pay market entry fee

CEBU, Philippines - With All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day barely a week away, the Cebu City Council has requested the City Treasurer’s Office to collect market entrance fees only from “transient” vendors, as mandated in an ordinance, and not from local farmers.

In a resolution authored by City Councilor Alvin Arcilla, the council said that there have been observations that local farmers, especially those who grow flowers, from the mountain barangays of the city are still required to pay entrance fees.

“In the previous years….a team from the City Treasurer’s Office is stationed in Barangay Busay days prior to the occasion of ‘All Souls’ and All Saints’ Day’ to collect the said entrance fees from (farmers with) flowers for sale passing thereat,” read the resolution.

Pursuant to the provisions of the Local Government Code, local government units are given powers to enact ordinances levying taxes, fees and charges; prescribing the rates for general and specific purposes; and granting tax exemptions, incentives or relief. 

Arcilla, though, said the farmers have sought assistance from the City Council for them not to pay entrance fees since they are not transients, whom City Tax Ordinance No. LXXIII identified as the one who should pay the entrance fee.

Section 86 of City Tax Ordinance No. LXXIII states “There shall be collected a market entrance fee from all transient vendors, suppliers and/or consignee of any commodity or merchandise brought into the public markets or their surrounding premises or in any other similar places within the territorial limits of the City of Cebu for sale on the basis of piece, head, weight, sack, bundle, buslo, box wooden or plastic crate, caing, basket, van, roll, can, set, or any other convenient unit of measure.”

“Local farmers whose farms are located within the City’s mountain  Barangays are seeking the aid of this August Body…considering that they are not ‘transients,’ as stated in the ordinance, but local residents of Cebu City,” he said.

Arcilla said that when the farmers arrive at the market, “they are again made to pay certain fees, making it difficult for these marginal farmers to earn a decent profit considering that such occasion only happens once in a year.”

The FREEMAN tried to contact City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas to clarify the matter but repeated calls to her contact number went unanswered. (FREEMAN)