MANILA Mayor Joseph E. Estrada has ordered an inquiry into the reported “mafia”-style operation of individuals allegedly monopolizing the operation of the newly modernized Quinta Market in Quiapo.
While saying such rumors are preposterous, Estrada said he still wanted to get to the bottom of the allegation in order to address the concerns raised by several vendors applying for registration at the recently reopened public market.
“True or not, we have to take a look into these allegations. I will never allow anyone or any group to run our Quinta Market for their own personal benefit. The padrino system does not apply here,” Estrada said.
Estrada designated Market Administration Office chief Annie Balboa to lead the investigation.
During a recent public hearing at the City Hall, led by the Committee on Market, Hawkers and Slaughterhouses, chaired by Councilor Joel Par, several vendors and stallholders complained that some of their colleagues were given more than one stall at the Quinta Market in violation of the city’s Market Code.
There were reports only 26 families managed to take control of 146 stalls when the law mandates that only one stall should be given per family/vendor; those 26 families were even non-Manila residents.
In a memorandum, Balboa tasked Quinta Market supervisor Marjorie Yebra to coordinate with the market developer, Marketlife Management and Leasing Corp., to verify these allegations of stallholders managing multiple stalls.
“We can’t say yet if this so-called mafia at the Quinta Market is true. Investigations are ongoing,” Balboa said.
Estrada, she said, would never allow this kind of scheme since his priority is to accommodate as many vendors and stallholders as they can in the city’s renovated public markets.
The allegations came from the so-called United Vendors Alliance (UVA), led by one Jerome Pagunson. The group has been raising issues against the city government and Quinta Market, the 289-member Quinta Market Vendors Association Cooperative Development said.
Pagunson had spoken in a TV news interview alleging that some kind of “mafia” or organized syndicate is controlling Quinta Market, giving away multiple stalls to anyone who could pay extra fees.
“There is now monopoly at the Quinta Market after its renovation,” Pagunson said, adding this caused several vendors to be displaced, forcing them to ply their goods in the sidewalks instead.
He said, under the city’s Market Code, no vendor or stallholder should be given more than one stall in any of the local public markets. “With what happened, a single family gets to own five to seven stalls.”
Estrada inaugurated the new Quinta Market during his 80th birthday on April 19. This is the latest public market in the city to undergo complete reconstruction.
Located in Carlos Palanca Street near the Pasig River, the old Quinta Market has been a popular landmark in Quiapo, but its dilapidated state prompted the city government to have it renovated and modernized.
Estrada signed a joint venture agreement with Marketlife Management and Leasing Corp. for this landmark project.
Similar to the four previously renovated markets, Quinta Market now has modern wet and dry sections and stalls, air-conditioned restrooms, a food court, fastfood restaurants, security cameras and even free Wi-fi connections, City Engineer Rogelio Legazpi said.