Councilor: Night market syndicated

As the questions and concerns hounding the Colon night market continue to be a subject of disagreement, Councilor Pastor “Jun” Alcover lambasted Mayor Nestor Archival for refusing to temporarily suspend its operations, calling the decision unjustifiable and further labeling the current operations as “syndicated”.

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In an interview yesterday, Alcover said he doesn’t understand Archival’s perspective, stressing that he might be misinformed.

Just days prior to Alcover’s remarks, Archival said he isn’t keen on granting the request of the City Council to temporarily suspend the night market until the GASA sa Gugma Board convenes.

Archival also voiced skepticism toward the GASA Board, citing reports that it hasn’t been remitting stall rental fees to the city government in recent years.

Alcover said it isn’t the GASA Board that’s responsible for collecting rental fees. He said as stated in the ordinance, the GASA Board shall only serve as the policy-making body.

“Maoy moplano, mohan-ay sa unsay mga kalihokan sa ambulant vendors. So policy-making body, dili collector and GASA in the first place, ang mangolekta ang city treasurer,” said Alcover.

He said it’s the city treasurer responsible for the collection through “arkabala”, where each stall pays from P25 to P50 per day. Alcover, however, said Archival should instead look into reports the organizers of the night market are collecting P6,000 in rent per stall.

Alcover added that the mayor, as cited in the ordinance, should serve as the chairman of the GASA Board and investigate these alleged rental fees. He said the stalls along the street being rented out are questionable since the space belongs to the government.

“Nganong giparentahan man na nga space man na gobyerno, dalan man na, so possibly kung naay rental tingali kana ilang mga tent pananglitan... but as far as space sa stall nga gibutangan, sais mil ang bulan, kinsa may gadawat ana?” said Alcover.