Joseph Estrada: Rehab of public markets still on

Despite Monday’s “market holiday” to be staged by around 5,000 vendors from seven of the city’s 14 public markets, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada is bent on pushing through with their rehabilitation through a joint venture agreement (JVA) signed with private developers.

“As long as everything we do is above board, we have nothing to fear. As long as everything is within the law and we are not harming anyone, no one can stop us,” Estrada said in an interview the other day.

Members of the Save Manila Public Market Alliance or SAMPAL—a newly formed association of Manila public vendors and stall owners opposed to the JVA scheme—have announced their intention to hold a market holiday on Monday and march to City Hall. They have expressed concern that the program would result in the privatization of the city’s public markets, resulting in higher stall rental and utilities fees or worse, the loss of their livelihood.

The participating vendors are from the Sampaloc, San Andres, Sta. Ana, Dagonoy, Trabajo, Quinta and Pritil markets.

Under City Ordinance No. 8346 or the Manila Joint Venture Ordinance, several of the city’s 17 public markets will be demolished to pave the way for their rehabilitation under a joint venture or a public-private sector partnership.

First to be “modernized” was Quinta Market which was torn down in July. Under the JVA signed by the Manila government with Marketlife Management and Leasing Corp. (MMLC), the private firm will renovate the market at a cost of P90 million and operate it for 25 years. The following month, affected vendors sued Estrada for graft and corruption, accusing him of awarding the contract to MMLC without a bidding or public consultations.

Next to be rehabilitated are the markets in Sta Ana, San Andres and Sampaloc.

On Thursday, Estrada said the vendors were just being used by some politicians to further their own interests. “It’s a partnership, not privatization. Manila markets will be rehabilitated for free,” he said of the JVAs.

Councilor Joel Chua, chair of the committee on markets, hawkers and slaughterhouses, emphasized that vendors would not lose their means of livelihood as the JVA was not a scheme to privatize or transfer ownership of the city’s public markets. He added that vendors were protected under the JVA as there would be no increase in stall rental rates for two years followed by just a 5 to 10 percent over the next years.