Philippines: At least 600 vendors to be relocated

No less than 600 vendors from Carbon Public Market will be subjected to relocation as civil works for its face lifting are scheduled to commence this month. Irvin Caballes, Cebu City Market Operations Division (MOD) chief said on Monday that groundbreaking for Phase 1 of the Carbon’s redevelopment will happen this March 17.

The project will be shouldered by engineering giant Megawide Construction Corporation. Phase 1 alone costs P5.5 billion. Caballes told reporters in an interview that they already identified at least 600 vendors, from Carbon’s Freedom Park and Warwicks sections, to be affected by the project.

Caballes in Cebuano said, we have the initial numbers and we have already submitted them to Megawide but as to the exact count, not yet, as we are still conducting inventory as of this moment. The Carbon Redevelopment Oversight Committee is also aiming to finalize this week the inventory of vendors to be affected by the entire project. The official added once groundbreaking will start, workers from Megawide will proceed to improve and put temporary stalls in Unit II, where the affected vendors will be housed. Unit II will act as an interim building. There will be stalls, ready for occupancy, for our vendors from Warwicks and Freedom Park.

Aside from ironing out relocation plans for the vendors, Caballes said the city government is planning to upgrade the status of some ambulant vendors as regular stallholders. This is to ensure that they will be among those prioritized once the project is completed. Megawide and the city government, under the administration of Mayor Edgardo Labella, entered into a joint venture agreement (JVA) to redevelop Carbon Public Market.

As the city’s largest public wet market, it houses over 5,000 vendors. However, not all vendors were in favor of the multi-million project, with some expressing concerns that it could fall into the hands of private entities like Megawide.

Labella, in earlier interviews, assured stakeholders of Carbon that the city will not relinquish its ownership and administrative powers on the market after it will be redeveloped.