DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 06 May)— Grocery vendors on the second floor of the new Agdao Public Market building are struggling to make good sales, even if they have been temporarily allowed to sell other items like fruits and vegetables.
Last March, the city council approved a resolution, authored by Councilor Edgar Ibuyan, allowing them to sell other goods aside from groceries until the end of the construction works at the new Agdao Public Market.
Prior to that, the City Economic Enterprises (CEE) issued tickets to those who sold goods other than groceries for violating Article 11, Section 340 of Ordinance No. 0291-17, or the 2017 Davao City Revenue Code. The second floor is meant for groceries, also known as the “variety section.”
Section 340 of the revenue code states that no vendor should be “allowed to sell, display, or offer goods or services that are not included… where his or her stall or space belongs.”
Maricel Jordan-Colmo, a variety section vendor at the second floor, said she is struggling to reach sales worth P500 per day due to their location.
She said she had been issued a notice of violation once for selling vegetables, but she had to do that due to “low income.”
Jordan-Colmo is one of the 30 stall vendors who are still operating in the 40-stall variety section. The others had already left due to low sales.
She said their monthly rent for the stalls range from P4,700 to P5,000, depending on the products they are selling.
The new Agdao Public Market currently has a total of 157 stalls, 45 of them still unoccupied.
Since April, no personnel from CEE has issued them violations, but Jordan-Colmo knew it would be temporary.
“Gi-planuhan unta ni og pag-ayo sa gobyerno o sa nagdumala aning market. Nindot among pwesto, limpyo, pero gamay mi’g kita adlaw-adlaw sukad pagbalhin namo dinhi sa bag-ong building (The local government or the market management apparently did not plan this well. Our location is good, it’s clean, but our daily earnings have decreased significantly since we moved to this new building),” Jordan-Colmo told MindaNews Monday morning.
Another vendor at the variety section, Seguntina Ginga, said that her income now is far less than when they were still selling at their old location.
“Bintaha nako naa man koy mga suki, pero dili pod tanan gusto mosaka na sa taas aron mopalit og gulay. Ang mga gulay man sab gud, naa pa sa old market (My advantage is that I still have loyal customers, but not everyone wants to go upstairs to buy vegetables. Besides, the vegetables are still available in the old market),” Ginga said.
“Unta makita pag-usab sa gobyerno ang sitwasyon namo, lisod ang kita sa kadaghanan sa amoa (I hope the government will see our situation. Most of us are having a hard time earning an income),” she added.
For her part, Ligaya Uba, president of the Agdao Public Market Dry Goods Section, said they were “forced to sell vegetables to earn profit.”
She noted that the variety or groceries section located on the second floor of the market’s new building is far from the vegetables section, which is on the ground floor at the other building currently undergoing renovation.
The P850 million renovation of the public market was stopped in its third phase due to “lack of funds.” Another building will be established to host the fruit and vegetable sections, which were temporarily transferred to the second floor of the new market building.
CEE Market Supervisor Gerardo Antonio Castillo said the city is currently looking for additional funds to continue the project. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
