‘Talipapas’ and Night Markets
Gray skies and the unwillingness to post photos that make Baguio look unattractive have prevented me from adding a photo of the Engineer’s Hill satellite market for this post. Located in an uber-prime location between Session Road Extension and Leonard Wood Road lies a colony of small, privatized government lots called Engineer’s Hill. This area is about just 1km from the Baguio City Market and is visible to a lot of visitors to Baguio also because the elegant Victory Liner terminal is located there.
There are two streets connecting the major roads, and both used to be two-way, but recently, they have been declared one-way. Because the residents park their cars on both sides of the road, and there’s a satellite market constructed on an easement that should have been a sidewalk so that the thousands of residents there have to walk along the street. Of course the road cannot accommodate four lanes!
The satellite market attracts flies and vermin because not only vegetables, but chicken, pork and other ‘wet goods’ are sold there. It is dirty and unsightly and useless because it is incomplete. And now Vice-Mayor Farinas and Councilor Tabora are going gaga pushing for more of these. I have reproduced the full short news story with a link to the source here:
Councilor pushes for construction of ‘talipapas’
THE Baguio City Government is encouraging the construction of more satellite markets in the barangays as alternative to a night market.The night market has been in the drawing board in the past several years but has not been realized because there is no site for such facility.
Vice Mayor Daniel Fariñas said satellite markets are a better alternative because these decongest the main market.Products sold in satellite markets are priced similar or even cheaper than those sold in the city market, he added.
Another alternative to decongest the main market is to support the erection of markets in private properties, said Councilor Antonio Tabora Jr.
An experimental night market at Harrison Road, which sold dry goods last year, was discontinued by the Office of the Mayor after vendors were found violating the conditions set by the City Government in the conduct of the activity
And now here we go again:
1. “As alternative to night market (sic).” Night markets sell dry goods, while satellite markets sell wet goods. How can this move been seen by any intelligent person as an “alternative?”
2. Satellite markets are favored by the residents of Baguio because a majority of them are poor, do not plan their meals, live hand-to-mouth and/or do not own refrigerators. But what they do not realize is that they get sick as a result of buying wet goods that are kept at temperatures that will allow bacteria to multiply faster than you can say ‘boo.’
Satellite markets are located along the road, exposed to dust, carbon monoxide, spit and all other pollutants, In fact, the selling of wet goods should be regulated by the Department of Health and the National Meat Inspection Commission but these guys’ presence is oh, so absent as far as these ‘projects’ are concerned.
3. “Decongest the main market.” No such thing! In your dreams! The Baguio City Market is such a wonderful place — and so complete — that folks will want to go there all the time! If you remove the illegal vendors in the middle of the aisles plus regulate the little ‘porters’ who pester tourists to carry their goods to certain areas with uniforms, ID cards and a 4-hour limit for work (kids are not allowed by law to work 8 full hours, but in practice are pushed by their parents to work more than that), you can decongest the city market. The city market is congested just as much by the people who deliver and sell there (plus their families who hang around their stalls) as much as those who buy from there.
Of course, if the city discouraged squatting, it would decongest the market but that’s too much to ask, right? Because the poorer the population, the better the chances of the current local officials to stay in power.
The way to decongest the main market is by erecting, not small, dirty satellites everywhere, but to erect other MAIN markets in the four corners of Baguio. Set up one in Irisan, another at Marcos Highway, etc.
4. “The night market has been in the drawing board … there is no site for …” A night market, such as those in different Asian countries cater to the tourists. And they do sell dry goods plus a few hawker foods. These should allow tourists who have been sightseeing all day to be able to do something wholesome, like shop, at night.
Our night markets do not sell souvenir goods, but cheap Divisoria-sourced items that reflect badly upon the quality of Baguio’s local products and defective and unattractive ukay-ukay products (because the lighting is poor and customers cannot see what they’re buying).
I have received many complaints from visitors, willing to spend a lot of their hard earned money in Baguio for a few days, that there’s nothing to do at night. The discos and casinos of the past used to fill that need. But we steadfastly refuse a casino, even if there is a way to limit entrance to non-residents only.
There are many Baguio locals, you see, who are soooo addicted to gambling for lack of anything else to do here that some of them throw their lives away. It is for them that the city steadfastly refuses to have a casino operate here. I suppose I should write a post about ‘Gambling in Baguio’ to show you how hyprocritical and idiotic the ‘No to Casino’ stand is.
Also, there are no decent night spots for decent folk to go to. All the bars here cater to the very young student population who love brawling or very dirty men who love the GROs. No such thing as a safe bar populated with well-dressed, can-hold-their-liquor, beautiful people.
Back to the night markets, then. If all we sell are the goods I named above, then let’s do away with the night market. But insisting that satellite markets are a good alternative is an unfounded, unresearched, unthinking assertion that is not worthy of the posts for which these men were elected.
There’s too much retail trade going on here, and Chinese-style, too (everyone sells the same ’sure’ thing, locates himself beside his competitor, and then they undersell each other). So that everyone makes very little, and will then live hand-to-mouth and then patronize the satellite markets.
Instead of spending so much money, the city can sponsor a lot of livelihood programs for the residents, teach them how to manufacture hand-made soaps, detergents, baskets and other exportable, salable (Filipinos term these as ’sellable’) goods, grow herbs for sale in their gardens or go into bee farming — and set-up the ‘infrastructure’ (not a building) for these businesses to grow such as cooperative farming or marketing. In Thailand, the government itself provides the artists and craftsmen, and the tourist/buyers, the means with which to ship their goods out of the country.
This is the support the Baguio residents need — a way for them to earn, not useless projects designed to keep them poor.
Because satellite markets ‘uglify’ Baguio, will adversely affect the environment and tourism, and in this day and age of eco-tourism (doesn’t Baguio get it? Lamang na nga tayo sa beauty, pilit pinapapangit pa), the more ‘pristine’ you are, the more you can have a sustainable tourism industry going. And as Senator Richard Gordon always says: “Tourism means jobs.” Those who do not get the huge direct benefits of tourism for Baguio City should step down, or better yet, leave the city altogether.
yes, i love the baguio market. the fruits and veggies are always fresh, the fish place is always interesting and the meat market resounds with the satisfying thuds of butcher’s knives on a chopping block. it’s a fine example of baguio’s color and life. why they need to “decongest” it is beyond me.
Come to think of it, Kubi, you’re right! They do not need to decongest the market. There are other options, like groceries (hello…) and sari-sari stores all over the city. Within 20 meters of each other on Quezon Hill, I had a choice of about 6 sari-sari stores total!
ang ganda po ng web site nyo. puro totoo ang nilalaman.sana lang ay magkaroon ng hiya ang mga taong tinatamaan ng mga negatibong commento….i.e na mag-resign nalang sa kanilang puwesto kesa nandyan at pagpapapogi na laang ang ginagawa,,,pertaining to of cors to the vice mayor….pang ilang termino na nya yan, ebri election…plataporma nya lagi is to reporm the market…reporm da market…be panahon pa ni jun labo ang katagang yan eh..ispescial mention sya kasi sya ang pang-ulo ng city council baga, speker of the house ba..pero walang magandang maisulong na ordinansa, maganda in the sense na pinag-iisipan ang sinasabi hindi porke me masabi kahit na walang kwenta…example..gagawa ng madaming talipapa para lumuwag ang palengke..yang lang ho ba ang kaya ng pag-iisip ninyo?bagkos abogado kayo di po ba? bakit di nyo ho article-lin ang sagot…ako tatanungin sa problemang yaan….wala rin ho ako sagot…pero don’t take it against me…kasi po nagbabayad ako ng buwis..sa ganoong paraan meron ako karapatan maglahad ng akin saloobin..insulto lang kasi sa akin na ang pinagkalooban ng tiwala para isulong ang kaularan ng baguio ay nalaglag sa kamay o sa mga kamay ng mag taong kinacareer ang pagiging opisyal ng city hall..para lang matawag na sir….ako sir, nagwawalis ho ako sa aking kapaligiran, i sigrigit my garbiege…little ways to help my city, …to the author…mabuhay po kayo…
Rebel, maraming salamat sa inyong mga tamang pagmamasid. talaga pong nakakainsulto ang mga pinaggagagawa nila, na pilit sinisira ang ating kapaligiran. Dapat nating bantayan at punahin and lahat ng kanilang kilos at baka mahiya naman sila. At malaman nila na hindi lahat ng mamamayan ng Baguio ay basta lamang tatanggapin ang kanilang katarantaduhan na walang katutol-tutol man lang.
2. Satellite markets are favored by the residents of Baguio because a majority of them are poor, do not plan their meals, live hand-to-mouth and/or do not own refrigerators.
I disagree with this. Most rue blue Baguio people are middle class. Mga poor(agin-pupoor) are semi-immigrants. And if they are indeed poor, why the heck do they own multiple cellphones? Sa Pilipino kasi di bale nang magutom ang tiyan, wag lang magutom ang cellphone.
There are many Baguio locals, you see, who are soooo addicted to gambling for lack of anything else to do here that some of them throw their lives away. It is for them that the city steadfastly refuses to have a casino operate here. I suppose I should write a post about ‘Gambling in Baguio’ to show you how hyprocritical and idiotic the ‘No to Casino’ stand is.
Also, there are no decent night spots for decent folk to go to. All the bars here cater to the very young student population who love brawling or very dirty men who love the GROs. No such thing as a safe bar populated with well-dressed, can-hold-their-liquor, beautiful people.
Who ever said this do not know the Baguio folk. These merely are immigrants who don’t give an eff about Baguio but only for their personal benefit. I’ve met a lot of true blue Baguio people all my life and most are the opposite of this. That’s the problem with some visitors, they don’t know how to distinguish who really are from baguio and who are ‘new commers’. basta nakatungtong sa Baguio, akala na nila taga-Baguio. Mga iba naman nagkukunwari
The night market is really appalling. It’s like an extention of the city market OF DAGUPAN(trust me with this, i frequent to Dagupan because my grandfather is from there). No wonder, marairinig mo naman salita nila, most..pangasinense. Hindi naman sa dinodown ko lahat ng taga-Pangasinan aksi karamihan sa kanila, walang manners, manyak pa. Same goes with the other Igorots who do not hail from the city.
The city hall is acting so slow! I wish magdonate ng earthquake ang indonesia. Imagine mo ilan ang “uuwi”.
In the 21 years that I’ve lived in the city, heto na ata pinakagrabeng pambabaoy sa Baguio. That condo that SM is building, favoring the Koreans even if what they’re doing is illegal, favoring the kuwaring poor(pero kupleto appliances nila sa bahay and they own many cellphones) kahit nakakasira sa economy and not really helping.
Pasensya na po. Naiinis talaga ako
Katrina, everyone here will allege, ‘taga-Baguio ako.’ Everyone is ‘true blue.’ And believe me, the way everyone’s breeding, hundreds of thousands can claim they are ‘Baguio-born’ as soon as they learn to write. The way so many migrants are permanent residents already and integrated into Baguio ’society,’ makes them locals, as far as I am concerned.
Lucky me, I knew and loved Baguio way before the earthquake. Almost all students now never saw, or experienced Baguio when it was paradise.
But then again, how many of the new immigrants do really care 5%? Even less probably. They’re here to make kalkalk to our basura, make dukot, make goyong, make nakaw.
I study in a school 70% of the students of the population are people who do not give a damn care if their basura clogs the drainage of the city. You cannot event start a conversation with them about Baguio no matter how you wish to. Most of these new comers non-old timers are well just selfish as the political buwayas.
I was born, raised, schooled and worked in Baguio City all my life. I never left Baguio City. I am a child of Baguio City Public Market vendors having grandparents who migrated in Baguio City after world War 2. The Public Market is a tourist spot and is being considered by the National Heritage Commission as one of its site similar to Brent School (the only Heritage site in Baguio City, to date).
Decongest the public market will not work or having talipapa in every barangay. The “talipapa” stalls will just be a front for the growing problem of squatting. The pilot project was that in Pacdal, behind the police sub-station. Today, non-residents of Baguio rent the stall as houses. Similarly, most of the stall owners in these “talipapa” also maintain stalls in the public market (engr’s hill), Aurora Hill and Irisan)
Scheme: A resident of a barangay will apply for a stall and once awarded, it will be rented out to those who are interested aside from the applicant.
My family maintains a stall in the public market and I hear a lot of stories from neighbouring stall owners about their stalls in the “talipapa”.
The “talipapa” stalls will just be a front for the growing problem of squatting… Today, non-residents of Baguio rent the stall as houses.
Welcome Dagger Look,
And thanks for pointing out how the erection of satellite markets actually provides free housing for non-Baguio residents. OMG!
This is a serious matter — it is the same problem with souvenir stalls in tourist attractions (the Wright Park stalls sometimes have laundry hanging out back, visible from the Riding Circle).
This is a serious matter that is worth looking into. No wonder Farinas wants more satellite markets — votes! The hard-working residents of Baguio must know about this.
Thanks.