Tipping the scales

Market day is every day... 

At least at Bicutan (in Paranaque) where vendors take over the street every day. I am not against all street vendors as I believe some of them really try to make an honest living selling their goods if they cannot afford a stall or rental at the local market...

But street vendors in the Philippines cause many problems.

Street vendors like the ones in this picture take over the street (in this case, 2 lanes of it) and cause massive traffic. They are in fact taking the roads away from the tax payers that paid for it...

Street vendors do not guarantee their products to be safe. Fish, Poultry, vegetables and cooked dishes in the street are exposed to the elements (dust, smoke, dirt, etc.) and are not checked by the Department of Health and since they are illegal vendors, they do not need to get licenses and price checks from the Department of Trade and Industry since well.. they are illegal...

Street vendors will have their reasoning of course, they're only trying to make a living (so what if traffic reaches massive proportions?)... they reason out that they cannot afford the very cheap rates at the local market (in this picture, the local market is less than 15 meters away but the vendors refuse to pay the rent.. why rent when you can sell for free?)

Street vendors pile their garbage anywhere... which clogs drainages in the street and cause flooding. The government picks up the tab for cleaning the clogged drainages and picking up the piles of garbage accumulated by the illegal vendors...

Street vendors take away business from legal vendors.. the banks and the stalls hidden from view in this picture loose customers because they cannot park or come into the shops because the vendors are blocking the way...

Anyway, I don't know why people clamor to fight for these vendor's rights to sell on the street... but fact is they have no right to do so...

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