Uncleared street vendors’ paradise

By Leonardo Micua

HAS Dagupan City under Mayor Brian Lim done enough in road clearing with just only a few days away before the deadline set by the Department of Interior and Local Government within which to comply?

The Jovellanos St. behind City Hall, which is not a principal road but a secondary street but just the same it ought to be cleared of all obstructions and restored to its old state a street. It’s literally an ambulant vendors haven, most of whom were removed from Galvan St.

Given its state, Jovellanos St. has been transformed into a permanent market without any ordinance mandating its transformation, occupying every space preventing both vehicles and pedestrians to use it.

No one can permanently close a street because streets, like parks, are beyond the commerce of man, according to the doctrine laid down by the Supreme Court in an old decided case, which now formed part of the law of the land.  

Try walking through that street any time of the day from one end and you’ll have difficulty reaching the other end even if it is only a few meters long. The city government has completely given up control and turned it over to vendors selling fruits, vegetables and other sundry items. 

Some vendors are even forced to selling their wares standing as there is practically no space left even for their stools.

The hyped cleared Galvan St. is not what has been made to believe. Both sides of the street are teeming with vendors, especially in the afternoon when workers find time to shop.

Then, some vendors are allowed to sell their wares on the sidewalk of A. B. Fernandez Avenue fronting CSI Market Square, a private mall. (We heard that the occupant of city hall is even mulling the idea of relocating vendors to half of the recently elevated parking area of CSI Market Square, a move that would likely lead to a court suit).

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Bad news. The African Swine Fever seems to be spreading like wild fire in Rodriguez, Rizal, Antipolo City and Guiguinto, Bulacan and in other Central Luzon towns, which DA Secretary William Dar has yet to disclose.

What makes it worse is that housewives, even in areas not hit by ASF, have started shunning away from buying pork, a situation that will soon likely weigh down on the economy.

There should be intensive information drive that should be launched to convince people that the pork or lechon that they are buying from the markets are safe from ASF. The DA has effectively controlled and contained up to a radius of 10 kilometers from grounds zero or places where the ASF deaths were first detected. 

In fact, the good news from Dr. Jovito Tabajeros, the assistant provincial veterinarian, is the pigs in Pangasinan are still safe from this pandemic swine disease, and this was quickly affirmed by the Pangasinan-based Samahan ng Industriya at ng Agrikultura (SINAG) headed by Rosendo So.

The reason why Pangasinan remains ASF-free till today was because of the quick response taken by Gov. Pogi Espino, who lost no time in imposing a temporary total ban of trucks bringing in hogs at all entry points of the province.

As many as 30 trucks loaded with 300 to 400 hogs were immediately intercepted in quarantine checkpoints and ordered to return to their respective points of origin.

Naturally, many swine traders regard this move as too harsh since they could no longer supply hogs to their regular clients in La Union and Baguio City.

The governor issued the stern directive because he is aware that once the ASF gets into Pangasinan, the local swine industry, which is reputedly the biggest in Northern Luzon, would be at great risk of being obliterated in one fell swoop knowing ASF is highly contagious and highly transmissible swine disease.       

Thanks to Gov. Pogi for his quick action and vigilance against ASF and for his being over-protective of our local hog raisers. Ditto to the more than 60 policemen mobilized by Police Provincial Director, Col. Redrico Maranan to man all these checkpoints 24/7 along with personnel form the Office of the Provincial Veterinarian. 

Meanwhile, local hog raisers have been advised to be pro-active in preventing the disease from getting into their farms by adopting rigid bio-security.

That means, their farms must be off-limits to outsiders and the trucks that are delivering feeds and other supplies must first undergo wheelbaths and footbaths for persons entering.

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