P11-M market for displaced vendors

MANILA, Philippines — An P11-million public market — designed as an alternative for sidewalk vendors displaced by clearing operations — will soon open in Marikina City, according to Mayor Marcelino Teodoro.

The basketball court-sized Marikina City Bagong Sibol Market, set to rise at Barangay Nangka before the end of the year, can accommodate up to 100 vendors who will be charged a “minimal” rental fee, Teodoro said.

Local chief executives have been ordered by the interior department to clear roads of all obstructions—including vendors, parked cars and illegally built outposts—within 60 days.

Teodoro, who recently proclaimed that Marikina was obstruction-free, making it the first city to meet the deadline, said road-clearing operations had to be paired with opportunities for income.

“Sidewalk vendors are an economic problem that requires an economic solution,” he said. “One of these is to provide them with microfinancing.”