Baguio vendors raising funds for new public market

WHERE THE LOCALS GO Baguio residents climb up to the old “Hangar” for fresh and cheaper vegetables grown by Benguet farmers. —EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY, Benguet, Philippines — Vendors here are raising funds for the redevelopment of the Baguio public market to prevent big developers from taking over what they described as “the heart of the summer capital.”

The Baguio Market Vendors Association (Bamarva) has been gathering various cooperatives, businessmen and residents to help raise as much as P2.6 billion through a consortium of cooperatives for a modern public market, lawyer Zosimo Abratique, the group’s president, said on Friday.

As part of the modernization of the city’s public infrastructure, the Baguio government intends to replace the old market with a series of interconnected buildings worth at least P6 billion.

Proposals

Each of the seven-story buildings has been designed for meat, fish, vegetables and other market commodities to be sold exclusively by Baguio traders.

However, a recent financial analysis concluded that it would take years for Baguio to recover its expenses should it take out a P6-billion loan using this scheme.

Four developers, including two shopping mall chains, offered to finance the project through 50-year development leases. They proposed to house the vendors in two floors of a seven-story building, while they operate shops or department stores on the remaining upper floors.

Direct competitors

Abratique said the shops at the top floors were direct competitors that would eventually kill business among market vendors. He cited the fate of public markets in countries like Vietnam, which modernized using the same business model.

To prevent this, Bamarva and four market associations have decided to pool resources and bid for the market project, he said.

Bamarva has tied up with Tiendaan Realty Corp., which Abratique and other vendors formed in 2013, voluntarily setting aside P20 each day to ge¬nerate a market development trust fund.

The group also reached out to other city cooperatives, including groups operating inside the Baguio City Economic Zone.

“The market we are building is not just for the market vendors, but for everyone in Baguio,” Abratique said.

Crowdfunding

“It’s like crowdfunding,” he said, adding that this would make Baguio residents coowners of the new market.

“We are all after a modern market. We don’t want a market where the wet market is actually wet,” he said, addressing vendors during Bamarva’s 64th anniversary program last week.

As joint partners, Baguio vendors can also keep prices affordable, he added.

The vendor-controlled market could also lure back the foot traffic generated by malls that affected businesses in downtown Baguio.

Once the new market is set in place, the consortium could help tackle other challenges in the city, such as building more rainwater dams to address the perennial problem of water supply, or develop new markets in the outskirts to decongest the city’s commercial district, Abratique said.