BAGUIO CITY – The City Government will accredit legitimate market porters working in the public market to reduce the proliferation of bystanders to reduce petty crimes in the market.
During a recent inter-agency meeting held at the City Council Session Hall, Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. informed stakeholders that Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan gave the go-signal for the crafting of the appropriate rules and regulations towards issuing identification cards for porters belonging to duly recognized associations of porters for properly identificationof those working in the market.
Aside from the porters, Yangot added identification cards will also be issued to barangay tanods of various barangays having jurisdiction over the public markets so that vendors and the public will be able to identify those who are legitimate workers in the public market, thus, bystanders may no longer roam around the market.
“Numerous bystanders in the different portions of the public market have been pinpointed as one reason for the proliferation of pickpocketing that often results to disappointments, especially among our visitors. As much as possible, we want to significantly reduce pickpocket incidents because our market is the show window of our city and we could not afford disappointing visitors to the market,” Yangot stressed.
Some 159 porters who are members of 10 porter associations are working in the different sections of the public market.
Yangot requested the associations of porters to submit to the local government the final list of their members to facilitate the preparation and subsequent issuance of identification cards while barangay officials will provide the city with the list of their barangay tanods for similar purposes.
According to the chair of the Committee on Market, Trade and Commerce, the issuing of these identification cards is part of the city’s efforts in helping daily reduce petty crimes in the different parts of the public market and guarantee the market-goers a facility that is a safe place to visit.
He called on concerned market stakeholders to support these efforts of the local government to bring cleanliness and orderliness in the facility to motivate more visitors to use the increasing vendors’ sales amidst the presence of other big establishments around the city.
Yangot asserted the need to continue improving the state of the public market while awaiting the outcome of the questioned development of the facility by a private developer as it is the duty of the local government to sustain the small improvements for the benefit of vendors and market-goers alike./By Dexter A. See
