Screengrab of the demolition operations conducted on Friday, 22 March 2024, by the Ancillary Services Unit of the City Government of Davao.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / March 25) – The Ancillary Services Unit (ASU) will meet again with vendors after a viral video of cellphone casing merchandise they confiscated near the new Agdao Public Market went viral on social media.
“We’ll have a meeting together with the Davao City officials regarding the viral video. We will also talk about our other plans of the clearing operations, as we still see many vendors do business in our sidewalks, even if ideally, they should not be there,” Paul Bermejo, ASU head, told MindaNews Monday morning in mixed Cebuano and English.
ASU is an agency under the local government unit (LGU) of Davao City.
Bermejo emphasized that in sidewalks, it should only be “one-lane of sidewalk vendors, if they are allowed, and not multiple vendor carts, which could affect pedestrians’ flow.”
He cited San Pedro Street as an example, where only one line of sidewalk vendors have been allowed.
Permits are being issued before they are allowed to sell their goods along the sidewalks, he said.
When asked if the man in the viral video already got back his items from ASU, Bermejo stressed that it could be answered “after the meeting.”
Last Friday afternoon, Facebook user Kylie Saligo posted the video which reached 6.1 million views as of 5:45 p.m. on Monday, 25 March 2024. It also garnered 78,000 reactions, 3,000 comments, and 68,000 shares.
“Kalit lang jud ang pag abot nila [ASU]… tas gihipos diretso (The ASU personnel just went directly to the man and confiscated his merchandise immediately),” Saligo told MindaNews through Facebook Messenger, when asked how the incident unfurled.
Saligo also shared that the man in the viral video was a resident of Barangay 23-C here, who was seen crying after his goods were confiscated.
Bermejo said they will intensify road clearings this month, focusing on streets such as in Barangay 76-A Bucana, Barangay 5-A, Barangay 29-C, and Barangay 27-C.
The Agdao Public Market is in Barangay Agdao Proper. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
