Basilica vendors’ registration to start next month

Minda Moralde, 94, has been selling candles at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño for more than 50 years already.

Moralde of Barangay Guadalupe said sales have been dwindling lately because of competition with several other candle vendors, especially those who crowd the Basilica during the fiesta senyor celebration every January of each year.

“Duna g’yud koy ID tulo ni kabuok. Sukad pa ni niadtong miaging mga tuig. Maayo unta ug duna g’yuy strikto nga pamalaod aron mahan-ay pud ming mga naninda diri inig Sinulog ug aron way manag-away (I have three IDs with me. These were issued last year. I hope the city will implement strict policies next year to bring order to the Sinulog celebration and so that vendors won’t end up fighting with each other),” she told Cebu Daily News.

Moralde said that strict regulation is also expected to benefit legitimate vendors, like her, who make an effort to always register with the city government.

Although old, Moralde said she needed to continue to earn to especially take care of the needs of her granddaughter Rose Ann, who was left in her care after its mother, her youngest daughter Rowena, died from child birth.

In order to help vendors like Moralde, the city’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) made a commitment to go after unregistered vendors in next year’s Sinulog celebration.

DWUP operations head Genevieve Alcoseba said that only city accredited vendors will be allowed to sell at the Basilica’s premises during the celebration.

Alcoseba said that based on last year’s experience, she noticed that many unregistered vendors continued to sell causing undue competition with the legitimate ones.

“The ones who have abused the (city’s) regulations that time are those who do not have their temporary approval to sell,” she said.
Registration of vendors is set to start during the second week of December.

Vendors who register with DWUP will be issued with Identification Cards (IDs) that will allow them to sell in designated vending areas at the Basilica during the nine-day novena.