• CHERYL G. CRUZ
A one-time amnesty on surcharges and interest on unpaid rentals of Manokan Country and public market vendors is being pushed in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod.
The proposed ordinance, approved on first reading Feb. 4, also seeks to provide a transitional framework for the re-award of stalls at Libertad, Burgos, and the Central public markets.
“It has been determined that numerous stalls in the city’s public markets and (then) Manokan Country are presently occupied by persons with expired leases, unpaid rentals, or technical violations of the Market Code, resulting in significant loss of public revenue,” proponent-councilors Celia Matea Flor, Caesar Distrito, and Jude Thaddeus Sayson said in the proposal.
They also took note of certain former Manokan Country stall renters with accumulated unpaid rentals and other obligations to the City.
“The City finds it necessary to adopt a one-time, non-precedent policy that balances strict enforcement of the Market Code with equitable considerations, in order to recover unpaid rentals, rationalize market occupancy, and protect legitimate small vendors,” the councilors stressed.
No amnesty shall apply to the principal amount of unpaid rentals, which shall remain fully demandable, they clarified.
Section 5 of the proposed ordinance states that the city administrator, through the market supervisor and city treasurer, with assistance from the City Legal Office, shall conduct a stall-by-stall validation to determine actual occupants; rental arrears, including principal, interest, and penalties; and eligibility for amnesty and re-award.
As a condition to avail of the amnesty and to qualify for re-award, the actual occupant shall execute a sworn undertaking, and shall acknowledge that occupancy is provisional and without vested right; assume full liability for all unpaid rental principal; commit to pay the principal within 90 days, or through a city-approved payment schedule not exceeding 12 months; and agree that failure to comply shall result in the stall being declared vacant and forfeited, the proposal added. | CGC
