Mandaue market vendors suffer poor sales

MANDAUE City vendors are not happy in their temporary location in sitio Tribunal, barangay Centro, because it is not accessible to customers.

After the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last October 15, some of the 1,300 vendors went back to the old public market to sell their wares, but last Thursday, they were made to return to the vicinity of the new market and the Mandaue City Sports Complex as their temporary location.

The garments, appliance and utensil shops are located in the right wing of Mandaue City Sports Complex. In the vicinity of the new market were several sections like fish, meat, groceries and vegetables. The P. Burgos Extension is closed to vehicles.

With her flower stall located at the closed road, Lydia Ardiente only had P40 in her pocket as of 1:30 p.m. yesterday. Because she had no money, she didn’t go home to sitio Budlaan in Talamban for the night. She had to endure the night in her stall that did not have electricity.

Ardiente said she used to earn more than P1,000 but now she’s already happy if she gets P100. Her one-way fare going to the market from their house is P120.

Yesterday, she threw her unsold flowers which had withered.

“Naglibog ko naa paba mi pasko ani,” she said. (I don’t know if we would still have something for Christmas.)

She hopes Mayor Jonas Cortes will relocate them near the old market since sales there are better. She pays the city P30 per day for her stall.

Fruit vendor Lara Cañete, 42, regularly leaves her stall to try to sell her fruits elsewhere and so save her wares from rotting. She recalls losing 26 boxes of bananas after the earthquake. Each box of bananas cost her P1,200. She hopes sales will be better for her to recoup her losses.

Musoline Suliva, head of the public market, tried to comfort the vendors saying that the situation is only temporary.

Suliva said cleaning their surroundings could make the temporary location attractive to customers, he added.