“There is always room at the top-after the
investigation.” Oliver Herford
By Alex P. Vidal
If the proposed redevelopment of the Iloilo
central market was not tackled early this year, the alleged anomalies in the
management of the city’s premier wet market would not be uncovered.
It was during the tension-filled opposition of
some stall owners led by the Association of Stall Owners and Transient Vendors
of Iloilo City Public Markets (Astraven Icpmi) that the issue about thieves and
racketeers siphoning funds intended for the city government was unraveled.
It was during the ruckus about the proposed
privatization of the public market where Councilor Rodel Agado and other
officials in the mayor’s office discovered that the market income generated
from rentals and other services declined rapidly.
CORRUPT
Agado blamed corrupt market collectors who
allegedly connived with their bosses and pocketed some collections to the
prejudice of the city government. Although he refused to name names allegedly
for fear of reprisal, the grapevine points to several high-ranking officials in
the executive branch which Agado promised to name “in the proper forum.”
It turned out the problem was not happening only
in one public market.
This month, the City Council’s committee on
markets and slaughterhouse will convene to tackle the proposed public inquiry
on the Iloilo Terminal Market (ITM), which will be conducted by the local
legislative branch as a committee of the whole.
Agado is expected to name the hooligans that
include four market fee collectors, 14 stall awardees and three regular market
employees allegedly involved in anomalous transactions. The councilor’s
revelation came in the heels of reports that a market collector was caught
selling application forms for the award of stalls at P100 each.
STIR
Now that city officials have started to stir the
hornet’s nest, they might as well cover other public markets in their on-going
investigations. After the central market and ITM, they should swoop down on La
Paz public market, Jaro public market, Mandurriao public market, and other wet
markets in the different districts.
If there appears to be signs of mismanagement in
the major public markets, it’s not far-fetched for other smaller public markets
in other districts to also experience a sloppy management.
Anomalous awarding of stalls to unqualified
owners, alleged tong collections, and power pilferage are three of the most
common problems identified by authorities in the metropolis’ premier public
markets most recently.
If public markets are poorly managed, profits
will decline and the income of city hall will suffer a major dent.
Slaughterhouses, public markets and other
income-generating facilities in the barangay level owned by the local
government are major sources of funds for the city government. If officials
assigned in these establishments are corrupt and inefficient, the money
intended for public coffer will go to the pockets of a few privileged
characters.
EXECUTIVES
There were market executives who considered
certain public markets as their fiefdoms. They ruled like chieftains. They used
their power to assign and award stalls to favored friends if not relatives. A
female “friend” of a former city mayor, for instance, reportedly owned five
stalls (four of them awarded through dummies) in Mandurriao.
Not only that. She also owned additional stalls
in other markets outside that district. Her “friendship” with the former city
mayor became the object of whispers because of the special favors she got from
the man every ordinary voter called as “pare.”
In fairness to the woman, she never bragged
about her “friendship” with the man everyone loved to call “pare.”
“It’s not her fault if she is so dear to pare
(first name deleted),” city hall employee and radio blocktimer Nards Grande
said.
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