PROFILING, REGULATION START
The Cebu City government has taken steps to regulate at least 500 sidewalk vendors in the city.
Yesterday, the Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) started profiling around 200 street vendors in the Osmeña Boulevard area.
These vendors had also earlier underwent orientation on guidelines for their continued vending on the sidewalks of the city.
DWUP chief Genevieve Alcoseba said that this would help them organize the sidewalk vendors in the city.
“We did this so that we will know the sidewalk vendors in a specific area, and we can organize or arrange them in a way where they cannot occupy the whole sidewalk,” said Alcoseba in Cebuano.
DWUP’s action came after Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña ordered DWUP and the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification and Enhancement (Probe) team to regulate the at least 500 sidewalk vendors in the city.
DWUP had already set the guidelines for them to continue their sidewalk vending.
Alcoseba said these include: (1) their tables should only be 2×3; (2) they should have garbage cans; and (3) they should maintain cleanliness and discipline in their respective areas.
She said that the sidewalk vendors should not occupy all the area of the sidewalk because sidewalks are for the public to use.
“They should give space for motorists and pedestrians,” she said in Cebuano.
She said that they had already finished the orientation of the vendors in Osmeña Boulevard and some areas around the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Alcoseba warned vendors that they would confiscate the merchandise of those who would violate the guidelines.