Mayor Lim asked to OK compromise

By September 20, 2021Business

TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION OF VENDORS

THE fate of the ambulant fish vendors that were relocated still hangs in the balance.

And the ball is now in the court of Dagupan City Mayor Brian Lim after the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) passed a resolution asking the city chief executive to allow the temporary relocation of displaced ambulant vendors to the sidewalk behind the Magsaysay Fish Market where they can sell fish till January 2022.

Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo who authored the measure, said this will suffice pending the determination of the claim to the propriety where the vendors previously occupied for about 30 years and displaced, by an heir of the building owners in the area.

Tamayo sees the temporary accommodation as a temporary relief to the plight of ambulant vendors led by Marieta Barientos, who Councilor Teresa Coquia, SP chairwoman on market, said are in a very pitiable and miserable situation who need to earn a living in order to feed their families in this time of the pandemic.

The resolution was passed following a marathon three-hour hearing by the SP on the plight of the vendors who were relocated to an area not already accessible to buyers of fish.

Coquia said the ambulant vendors want to return to the their former area being claimed by one Johnny Ferrer, reportedly one of the heirs of both Marissa Ferrer Maramba and Miguel Ferrer, owners of a building near the Magsaysay Fish Market and he wants the area cleared of vendors.

City Assessor Alan Dale Zarate said based on records in his office, the Ferrers own the Melee’s building but a land survey must be commissioned by the city in order to determine the boundaries of the Ferrer property.

Noting that it will still take some time before the boundaries of the Mele’s property could be finally determined, Tamayo proposed that the SP asks Mayor Lim to temporary allow the use by ambulant vendors of the sidewalk  at the back of the Magsaysay Market where they can sell fish just till January next year.

The vendors protested their relocation last August 26 and belied the reason that their relocation was compelled by the road clearing guidelines set by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The vendors said that could not be the reason since the relocation area is still part of the same road.

Meanwhile, Coquia noted City Market Superintendent Aguedo Sta. Maria never showed up in any of the committee hearings and discussions on the issue. (Leonardo Micua)

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