VENDORS plying their trade near the Galleria Baclaran
Shopping Mall that was razed in a day-long fire last week appealed to
authorities to extend the Friday deadline given them to leave the place but the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) does not appear likely to grant
their wish.
The vendors said they need more time to find another place
and will appeal to Pasay Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad and the MMDA to give them
until March before dismantling their stalls.
Trinidad had already given the MMDA his blessings for the
scheduled demolition of the vendors’ stalls on Friday after meeting with Light
Rail Transit Administration head Mel Robles and the MMDA.
LRT operations were partially halted during the Baclaran fire
which lasted some 30 hours. Firemen complained that the presence of so many
people at the site of the fire hampered their movements.
Trinidad also warned the vendors that the burnt out mall
could collapse anytime.
MMDA Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group chief Roberto
Esquivel said clearing operations will go on as scheduled on Friday. He said
they will concentrate on some 178 stalls along the stretch of Taft Avenue and
Barangay Sto. Niño where the Galleria building and the LRT-Baclaran station are
located.
Esquivel said 1,000 personnel with heavy equipment will be
used in the operation.
Baclaran has been the scene of violent confrontations between the MMDA and
sidewalk vendors in the past. In 2004, an MMDA personnel was stabbed. Another
was shot by unidentified gunmen last year. In 2005, unknown persons burned an
MMDA mobile office near the Redemptorist church. – Ashzel Hachero
