Illegal vendors crackdown
to continue, city cops vow

Bacolod police  director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday said the police will continue its crackdown on illegal street vendors despite appeals from some peddlers for humanitarian considerations and the possible amendment of the city ordinance governing vending.

Quebrar said he understands that street vendors need to make a living, but there is a law that needs to be followed.

Bacolod City Ordinance No. 53 prohibits the vending of food and other products on sidewalks and other places other than those prescribed such as in public markets and areas near them, Quebrar said.

If vendors, particularly those with pushcarts, would sell their products only in designated areas like those near the Bacolod North, Central, and Libertad public markets, they will not be apprehended by law enforcers, he said.

Ten vendors were rounded up by Police Station 2 members led by Senior Inspector Luisito Acebuche from the roads around the Capitol Lagoon Saturday night.

One of the peddlers, Judith Revamonte, said they have been allowed by the establishments near the lagoon and the park’s security department had also permitted them because there was an event that time.

The BCPO and the City Legal Office have been campaigning against sidewalk vendors who display their goods on roadsides such as at Lacson and Gatuslao streets.

City Legal Officer, Allan Zamora, however, said that the Negros Forest management and the Provincial Capitol have both been complaining about the vendors selling their products along the streets around the area.

They have received reports that some of the vendors have practically camped out in the areas around the Capitol, even drying their clothes on the steel fences of the lagoon, Zamora said.

Revamonte and two other vendors, Margarita Lesana, 32, and Mary Ann Santileses, meanwhile, appealed to the Sangguniang Panlungsod for a possible revision of C.O. 53.

Maybe the SP can change something in the statute that would allow them to park their carts and sell their products for a certain number of hours without being rounded up, they said.

They added that they understand the restrictions of the law, but stressed, that they are just asking for consideration because vending is their only source of income for their families.

The vendors also claimed that, for some reasons, some of their fellow street peddlers, particularly those who carry their products with them are left selling, while they are apprehended.

“We’re tired of always looking over our shoulders like thieves to see if the police are coming to get us,” Revamonte said.

In a text message to the DAILY STAR however, SP committee on Laws, Ordinances, and Good Government chairperson, Councilor Dindo Ramos, said, he “(doesn’t) think the (amendment) would be possible since streets are for pedestrians and motorists, and not for vendors.”

“Vendors are for the markets. (But) we will look into it,” Ramos also said.

Councilor Wilson Gamboa, chairperson of the SP committee on Transportation and Traffic, meanwhile, said he is open for a consultation with the vendors, particularly those from the lagoon and the central market.

Gamboa said he will contact the vendors’ groups for a joint public consultation with SP Markets and Slaughterhouse committee chairperson, councilor Alex Paglomutan at 2 p.m. on March 4.

“We will talk to them because they may have reasonable suggestions,” the Gamboa said.

Vice mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, on the other hand, they will wait for the formal request of the vendors, noting that there is a national law where C.O. 53 was based.

 Meanwhile, Quebrar said, that while the law is still in effect, they will continue apprehending those who will violate it.

He said the campaign is one of their measures to address the traffic congestion in the city, particularly along the Lacson stretch.

“We receive complaints about the traffic. If we apprehend vendors who obstruct the roads we also receive complaints. Where would we place ourselves?” Quebrar asked.*PP

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Respect gun ban,
police chief urges

Bacolod City Police Office director, Senior Supt. Ronilo Quebrar, yesterday said he hopes private individuals who have been issued permits to carry their guns outside of their homes will respect the existing suspension until March 3.

All Permits to Carry Firearms Outside of Residence have been suspended by Philippine National Police chief, Avelino Razon starting February 25 amid alleged coup plots against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.

Quebrar said he hopes those who have been issued with PTCFORs will follow the order so they will not be inconvenienced when apprehended.

Anyway, he said, as long as their permits are still valid next week, they can carry their firearms with them.

The police will heighten their checkpoints and patrols, especially at night, to enforce the ban until midnight Monday, Quebrar said.*PP

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