Talisay vendors adjust to life in new market

MANY Talisay City vendors yesterday resigned themselves to the  closure of the old Tabunok public market.

In separate interviews, they talked about how their transfer to the Gullas-Macapagal market building in barangay Lagtang would  mean less customers and lower profits.

They took down plywood sheets from their old stalls in the Tabunok public market after the police fenced the area at 7 a.m. yesterday.

Vendor Gregoria Escanillen, who did business in the old market for more than a decade, said she expects less income for now.

“I haven’t transferred yet  because I don’t have an area assigned yet by the city government and my business permit just expired,” said 46-year-old Escanillen. She said she earns P3,000 a day selling cooked meals in the old Tabunok market.

Old market customers complain of the dirty conditions of the old Tabunok market and how it has become a hangout for “rugby boys”.

Esther Cantoneo, 72,  closed her old stall at 2 a.m. and started selling her wares at the new market at 6 a.m. yesterday.

“I still didn’t have enough sleep,” she said.

She said the old market is more  accessible to customers from as far as Minglanilla town.

“I want a better stall because I have been a vendor for so long,” she said.  Talisay City Hall drew lots to designate stalls for the vendors.

Most rice retail vendors stay in the market’s front area.

Cantonero said she has to pay P67.50, a substantial increase from the P45 daily fee charged in the old market building.

Cleofe Sarsonas, a 52-year-old meat vendor said their customers especially the old buyers will be inconvenienced by the new market location.

“We can’t do anything since we’re up against the government,” she said.

From P7.25 per day on her stall, Sarsonas now pays P9.25 per day for her stall space. Still, she said her prices will remain the same.

She said she and other vendors will divide the power bill among themselves.

Sarsonas is one of seven meat vendors who already transferred to the new public market.  The old public market has about 90 meat vendors. Rhea Ruth V. Rosell, Correspondent