Mandaue City plans to open night market for sidewalks vendors

A night market will soon be opened on Zamora Street to accommodate sidewalk vendors who will be displaced with the reopening of the city public market. /Photo grabbed from Google Maps

CEBU CITY, Philippines —The Mandaue City government is looking at the possibility of setting up a night market to accommodate sidewalk vendors who will be displaced with the reopening of the city public market this month.

City Administrator Jamaal Calipayan said that they can accommodate as much as 64 vendors at the night market that they plan to set up along Zamora Street that is located on the right side of the public market building.

Accredited vendors will be allowed to display their wares from 6 p.m. until midnight, he told CDN Digital.

“We are currently talking to the Mandaue United Muslim Association. Pero di ra sila, we also welcome Christian organizations to be part of this (program) just so informal vendors naa silay opportunity to do business here sa Mandaue,” Calipayan said.

Read More: P385-M new Mandaue Public Market to open before city’s Charter Day

The Mandaue City government earlier announced the need for sidewalk vendors to already vacate their vending areas as a preparation for the reopening of the city public market this month.

“As early as the second week of July, we have already been announcing, we made rounds informing them that we are giving them 30 days and then we will be clearing them off. Na-echo pa gyud ni siya kay during the SONA, the president imposed strict orders through the DILG to the mayors to reclaim the streets,” Calipayan told CDN Digital.

(We have been making rounds as early as the second week of July to announce the need for vendors to already vacate the sidewalks (surrounding the city public market) in the next 30 days. Our announcement was re-echoed during the SONA after the president directed the DILG to remind mayors of the need to reclaim streets.)

But Calipayan assured that sidewalks vendors will not be left with nothing.

Calipayan said they are now in discussions with the Local Office of Muslim Affairs (LOMA) and the City Legal Office’s Legal Enforcement Unit to plan the details of their night market program.

“We are going to open 64 slots for the night market, including those for our Muslim brothers and sisters who are selling goods in the area,” he said.

The city government will be collecting fees from the vendors that will come in the form of cash tickets.

Calipayan said that they will also be partnering with a private organization that the city will task to collect other fees that will cover the operating cost of having a night market. This will include the honorarium of security personnel, tents rental and electricity use.

“They will be paying para sa kuryente, naay molimpyo, security and all. But it is going to be more or less privately-run, dili na sa city. Mo-collect lang ta nila og cash ticket,” Calipayan said.

(They (private partners) will have to take care of the night market’s electricity, cleanliness and security needs. Their operation will be privately-run.  The city’s involvement will be limited to the collection of cash tickets.) /dcb