Baclaran vendors shooed away…again

The Parañaque City government on Thursday renewed its campaign to give back the roads surrounding the National Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, more popularly known as Baclaran Church, to  motorists, by banning  some 3,000 vendors from selling their wares in the area.

Parañaque City Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez led the clearing operations in Barangay (village) Baclaran with one goal: to open up  major roads that have been almost impassable in the past decades with the presence of ambulant vendors.

Olivarez said the operations led to the “recovery” of Redemptorist Road and the widening of Quirino Avenue as well as the service road of Roxas Boulevard and the three main thoroughfares surrounding the church. The clearing of illegal structures and stalls was undertaken by the vendors themselves following a meeting with local officials on Tuesday.

“The clearing operations were orderly and peaceful,” Olivarez said. “The next thing we need to do is to make sure that we sustain this new order in Baclaran by enforcing all the pertinent regulations and increasing the visibility of our policemen.”

Olivarez said the clearing of the roads was just the initial phase of a comprehensive plan to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and reduce, if not totally eliminate, crimes in Baclaran, also a popular destination for bargain shoppers.—Niña P. Calleja