BAGUIO CITY — City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias said that the night market which is temporary in nature occupying one side of Harrison Road is generating more than the permanent public market.
Cabarrubias said 1,044 night market vendors along the 500-meter stretch of Harrison Road every night pay the local government unit (LGU) of Baguio City, PhP350 per market vendor a week or a total of PhP365,400 a week.
The night market generated PhP14.9 million in the last nine and a half months this year but could have been more if the operation was not hampered by the rains and typhoons, Cabarrubias said.
He explained that with more than 3,000 stalls in the public market, including 1,890 stalls at the stone building, 800 stalls in blocks III and IV at the Hilltop Market and more than 970 stalls in the relocation sites generate about PhP26 million annually.
Cabarrubias said there are leaseholders in the public market paying a mere PhP90 per month while there are some paying PhP3,000 in monthly rentals depending on the size of their stalls.
He added that in Blocks III and IV and the relocation site account for a total of PhP9 million in annual income while the nearly 1,900 stalls in the city’s public market account for only PhP17 million annual income for the city.
The fees being charged by the city from leaseholders of the various stalls in the public market have not been revised since 1988, thus, the need for updating of the city’s revenue code, Cabarrubias said.
In 2017, the local treasury office projected that it will be able to generate at least PhP30 million from the fixed rentals of existing market stalls in the public market, Blocks III, IV and the identified relocation site while it also forecasts an income of PhP14.5 million from the operation of the night market for nine and one-half months. Jojo Lamaria/PNA-northboundasia.com