Bacolod City Administrator Lorendo Dilag yesterday said he will defer the implementation of the closure of 20 percent of the stalls or blocks at the Vendors' Plaza at the Reclamation Area in Bacolod City until Mayor Evelio Leonardia arrives from the United States.

Dilag said the Market Committee has recommended the closure and the drawing of lots for the stalls or blocks after these are declared vacant. The committee is now preparing the criteria for those who want to apply for the stalls, he said.

If we do not start straightening out things at the Vendors Plaza when do we start? he asked.

Dilag said the Market Committee is not playing politics but thinking of the situation of the city as a whole. Because Acting Mayor Renecito Novero asked for the deferment of the implementation of the closure, there are now many vendors in the area.

If those vendors cannot be removed, Novero is to blame, he said.

Novero said this not a political issue but an issue on how to govern properly the public markets and how to implement the policies. He said that during his meeting with the Market Committee, he suggested that the members also look into the problems of the other markets. The committee should resolve these problems and make a recommendation to the acting mayor and not bypass his office so that when the mayor arrives he can analyze their recommendations, he said. Novero said that if the problem at the Vendors' Plaza worsens,

Dilag is to blame because the city administrator does not know how to resolve it.*CGS

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