Road-clearing nets 5 vendors in QC

MANILA, Philippines — Five street vendors were jailed in Quezon City for hawking fruits and vegetables near the busy Elliptical Road, an area they had been asked by the Market Development and Administration Department (MDAD) to leave, the local government said on Monday.

The Feb. 18 arrest was the latest in increasingly aggressive approaches to road-clearing taken by local officials although workers’ groups have called it antipoor.

In a statement, the Quezon City government said the apprehension was “prompted by Quezon City MDAD enforcement unit’s repeated pleadings to the vendors not to vend in the area because they were disturbing and obstructing the flow of pedestrians.”

The sellers — four men and a woman — were situated at the sidewalks near the gates of the National Housing Authority, Philippine National Bank and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines by Elliptical Road.—Matthew Reysio-Cruz