Displaced Bacolod vendors to get financial assistance

BACOLOD City – Sidewalk vendors in the downtown area affected by road clearing operations will receive financial assistance of P5,000 each from the city government.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Thursday the vendors have been relocated from the downtown area to the Vendors Plaza and the city hopes to provide assistance as they transition to another place of business.  

“It is still our desire to help them to the maximum extent possible. We are prepared to assist them on a short, medium and long-term basis,” he added.

Initially, around 400 vendors were moved from the downtown area to the market at the reclamation area, but Leonardia said he has asked for an official list to determine who can receive the financial assistance.     

The city government will use fund from its Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office share, he added. 

Aside from this, City Administrator Juan Orola Jr. also coordinated with the Department of Labor and Employment to identify which of the agency’s program can be availed by affected sidewalk vendors.

Last month, nearly 170 vendors occupying Burgos and Daniel Ramos Streets have been removed and transferred inside the Burgos North Public Market while 95 fish vendors selling on Ballesteros Street in the downtown area were moved to the Central Market.

Vendors at Libertad South Market who occupied the Amelia-Mercedes Streets for many years returned to their spaces in the Libertad Market Annex.

The clearing of the streets complies with the Department of the Interior and Local Government Memorandum Circular 2019-121 issued by Interior secretary Eduardo Año.

In his order dated July 29, Año gave mayors 60 days “to exercise their powers essential to reclaim public roads which are being used for private ends, and in the process rid them of illegal structures and constructions.”(With a report from PNA/PN)

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