Manila’s Ylaya Street, famous for its bargains, has gotten a fresh look as it is now teeming with 100 beautifully-painted and newly-constructed vending stalls, which have been unveiled in a ribbon cutting ceremony led by Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Saturday.
The local government said “the placing of 100 Ylaya Vending Stalls aims to help vendors to have a higher dignity for themselves” and “is part of the local government’s Build Build Manila program.”
“Etneb sa umaga, etneb sa hapon, takwarens buong araw. May sariling kontador, wala nang ‘eddie at patty’ (P20 in the morning, P20 in the afternoon. P40 for the whole day. It comes with own electric meter and there would no longer be ‘eddie and patty’),” Moreno said in a Facebook post.
This means that street vendors, who were previously selling goods and items on makeshift stalls, would only have to pay P40 rental fee daily to be able to use the stalls.
Moreno said, they would also have their own electric meters and would no longer have to pay a fee to illegal collectors, as had been the practice before when several barangays officials were placed under investigation over extortion of street vendors.
In November last year, Ylaya was shut off to vendors as Moreno banned them from selling in the area after seeing piles of garbage during a surprise pre-dawn inspection. Scrap vegetables and various plastic wastes were seen littering and piling up as early as 5:30 a.m. (Joseph Pedrajas)