Cebu City to hold public hearing for Carbon Market development

Vendors display vegetables at the Carbon Market in this 2016 photo. | CDN file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines –Amidst protests from the Cebu Market Vendors Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Cemvedco) regarding the development of the Carbon public market by a private entity, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said he will be calling for a public hearing to discuss the matter.

In a phone interview with reporters on Friday, October 4, 2019, Labella said he understands the concerns of the vendors in the public market because the development of Carbon can be a shock and huge adjustment for them.

However, he said that the plan is still in its early stages and he has not received the actual design proposal from the private supermarket for the development just yet.

Once he receives the proposal, this will undergo various processes, including seeking the approval of the Cebu City Council. The Council will also be obliged to call for a public hearing on the matter.

Labella said that the vendors will be heard and their inputs for the project design will be incorporated into the final plan.

“Cemvedco will be heard as well as the other stakeholders and the other market vendors, all of them. There will be a public hearing that will be announced so that all of them will be heard,” the mayor said.

Cemvedco visited the a similar project of the private supermarket in Dasmariñas City, Cavite, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, and they said that they do not want a similar set up for the Carbon Market.

Erwin Gok-ong Sr., Cemvedco chairman, said that in Dasmariñas, the vendors were assigned on a floor where they could not be immediately seen by shoppers, which meant lower sales.

The local government unit (LGU) was even forced to provide P5,000 financial assistance to affected vendors so they would remain inside the marketmall. He said this would defy the purpose of the Carbon Market, which currently has 1,000 vendors housed in it.

Cemvedco said they plan to bring up these concerns in the consultative meeting and public hearing to be set by the city government over the Carbon Market modernization project.

The Carbon Market modernization project would entail a private supermarket building a three-storey building in the Carbon Market to make it a more modern facility.

The first floor would house the vendors and the supermarket, the second floor will be for the parking, and the third floor will be the “bagsakan” or the warehouse of the market. /bmjo