‘ROLLING, ROLLING’: City government eyes solutions for displaced ‘bolanteros’

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

Ahead of the reopening of Iloilo City’s major public markets, a city official said the local government is still studying options for ambulant vendors or bolanteros who will no longer be allowed near market premises.

Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) head Maricel Mabaquiao told Aksyon Radyo Iloilo on Oct. 29 that bolanteroswould be prohibited from selling around the Iloilo Terminal Market.

She cited City Regulation Ordinance 2009-316, or the Market Code of 2009, which prohibits “peddlers or hawkers” from selling goods or services within a 100-meter radius of public markets or along their sidewalks, aisles, courts, or other passageways.

Mabaquiao said some of these ambulant vendors already have registered stalls inside the market, while others are suppliers who drop off products and sell directly to customers.

She explained that those who do not yet have stalls may be given legal spaces to sell once assessments are completed.

“The [ambulant] vendors who are here outside are also those who have stalls inside [the market], and the other vendors are not from here—supposedly they are only supposed to drop [goods] but they are also selling,” Mabaquiao said.

“Once our vendors go inside, we will be clearing our [surrounding] areas,” she added.

She said the city, together with the Public Order and Safety Management Office, is informing vendors that they must begin clearing their areas starting tomorrow and ahead of the soft opening.

She clarified that suppliers who are only meant to deliver goods but engage in direct selling will be disallowed to ensure fairness.

“There are ambulant vendors who are supposed to be dropping only their products,” she said.

“We will disallow them because our vendors are also outside,” she added.

“As much as possible, we will have to clear them because in the [Market Code of 2009], no one should be selling within a 100-meter radius of the market, and the pathways aren’t for selling,” she explained.

Mabaquiao assured the public that no legitimate vendor will be displaced as long as they comply with city requirements.

“Provided that [the vendors] will comply with our requirements, and they are vendors from the old market, as we promised, nobody will be displaced,” she said.