ANOTHER illegal trade fair in the vicinity of Burnham Park in Bgauio City caught the ire of councilors after its organizers allegedly failed to secure permission from the council for its operation.
Like and Recommend our facebook page
Councilor Joel Alangsab said he initiated a probe on the fair Monday after receiving reports of trade activities being conducted in the old city auditorium.
This developed as the Liga ng Barangay president learned organizers of the trade fair are using the barangay councils’ organization to conduct their activity.
Alangsab said this is a clear violation of the Trade Fair Ordinance of 1994 as Burnham Park is prohibited as venue of such activities without the consent of the City Council.
To date, he said, the council does not have any idea on who is operating the trade fair.
However, Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia said the move of the council should be for the immediate closure of the illegal trade fair, which Alangsab said, has been operating for a month now.
Section 2 of the Trade Fair ordinance explicitly states: “It is hereby declared a policy of the Local Government of Baguio to regulate trade fairs in the City of Baguio by allowing the conduct of trade fairs for a period of not exceeding 15 days in suitable public or private places, except in Burnham Park, the People’s Park, and other city-owned or city-managed public parks within the Central Business District.”
Because of this violation, councilors immediately called for the termination of the trade fair activities.
Councilor Edison Bilog added immediate dismantling of structures and tents built by trade fair vendors must be carried out.
Bilog said that based on his investigations, businessman Masahiro Okuda allegedly was involved in the trade fair collecting P19,000 per tenant.
Meanwhile, when the councilor chanced upon the Japanese businessman recently, Okuda told him that he has been renting out tents to trade fair vendors in Burnham Park.
However, the Japanese businessman denied operating the trade fair, Bilog added.
Meanwhile, Bilog said tenants at the trade fair pointed to the City Environment Parks Management Office and the City Mayor’s Office to have consented to the trade fair.
But follow-up investigations of the councilor revealed both offices did not give any permission for any trade fair to be set up in the area.
Bilog said there will be a problem on the site of the trade fair as the same area is the vending of fireworks vendors whose selling activities are slated to start on December 20.
He said it is dangerous most especially to fireworks vendors to sell in an area shared with a trade fair most especially to patrons of the stalls.
He added penalties for violations of the ordinance include imprisonment and fines to be implemented by the city government. (SunStar / by JM Agreda With Pamela Engaño)
0 comments:
Post a Comment