Divisoria in Manila is unrecognizable without vendors clogging its roads. This photo was taken on July 3. —PHOTO BY RICHARD A. REYES
SOME thoroughfares in Manila which for years have practically become marketplaces are now passable.
This happened after the new mayor of Manila, Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, ordered members of the Manila Police District to clear and reclaim the streets from ambulant vendors, a report published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Wednesday said.
Domagoso during his campaign promised to clear the city’s roads to ease traffic. On his third day in office, the Manila districts of Blumentritt, Divisoria, Quiapo, Binondo and Pedro Gil were free from obstructions, the Inquirer report said.
“We are very happy because we thought this was impossible. It’s always difficult to walk on Juan Luna Street because of the illegal vendors,” Ella May Radoc, 21, told the Inquirer on Wednesday. Radoc was referring to one of the Manila roads Domagoso had said would be cleared.
Radoc, an elevator operator working in Ermita, and her friend, Fritzel Irish dela Rosa, said it was now also easier to get a ride on the busy Binondo street.
The vendors who used to clog the road, just meters away from the Divisoria malls, were the main reason why jeepney drivers cut trips. As a result, passengers like Radoc and dela Rosa were frequently forced to walk the rest of the way to get to their destinations.
Despite the big improvement, both women said they would reserve judgement until December. While admitting that they were impressed, they stressed that it was common for politicians to renege on their promises a few months into their term.
“We hope it remains like this for good,” dela Rosa told the Inquirer.
Domagoso was in Divisoria on Wednesday morning to tell vendors not to give money to any government official, even barangay leaders, in exchange for letting them ply their trade on the streets, according to the Inquirer report.
But hours after the mayor left vendors like Anna Olivar and Haslim Casin were back on the sidewalk. Both said they believed Domagoso meant well but they needed to earn a living.
Casin, who voted for the new mayor, said the clearing operations were not a surprise, adding that all the city’s previous chief executives had done it at the start of their terms.
Saying he had five children to feed, Casin said he was hoping that the city government would provide vendors like him with a small space so that they could earn a living without shelling out bribes, the Inquirer report said.
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