The closure order of the Mercado de Bais in Bais City has been put on hold after violence erupted there as authorities attempted to implement it.
The implementing team, led by the Bureau of Fire Protection, was met with resistance Thursday by oppositors who allegedly started throwing rocks, empty bottles, and other items at them, said Bais City Legal Officer Atty. Joseph Lloyd Elmaco.
Mayor Mercedes Goñi requested to hold off the implementation of the order to avoid the violence from further escalating.
The City of Bais wants to lease the Mercado de Bais to a Cebu-based mall for 25 years at P1.1 million per month to raise the needed amortization for the City’s loan to construct the facility, but some vendors refused to vacate the premises, even as about 85 percent of the stall owners/vendors at the Mercado de Bais have since been relocated to the old market.
BFP Regional Director in Region 7, Samuel C. Tadeo, issued a closure order against the facility, which is owned by the Bais City local government unit, for failure of some concessionaires to comply with fire safety requirements.
The stoppage of operation/closure order, dated Feb. 8, 2018, was addressed to market supervisor Marissa Silva, and Mayor Goñi, for having “consistently failed to comply” with the Fire Safety and Protection Requirements of Republic Act 9514, otherwise known as the Fire Code of the Philippines of 2008.
In previous months, the local fire department had conducted a series of inspections, and found the Mercado de Bais as a fire hazard, said Elmaco.
Because the closure order was directed against the Bais City LGU, Atty. Elmaco said they sent the City Engineer’s Office to go with the provincial office of the BFP, headed by the provincial fire marshal, together with other law enforcement agencies/units at around 9 a.m. Thursday.
Elmaco clarified that contrary to perceptions by some locals, it was not the Bais City LGU that ordered the closure of the facility, which is the bone of contention of a “political controversy” allegedly with the previous administration.
He pointed out that in fact, the closure order is directed at the LGU.
He said they were hoping for a peaceful implementation, and that some of those affected had started leaving, but then they saw others who looked like “strangers” in the facility.
Some of the authorities sustained minor injuries even as they exercised maximum tolerance, he added.
“It was a very violent act against the authorities,” Elmaco stressed, which later led to the aborted implementation of the closure order to avoid a bloody confrontation.
The lawyer further disclosed they learned that many of those who were on the opposition were not even vendors affected by the closure order or the ongoing controversy. Rather, they were believed to have been “brought in” by certain quarters taking the side of the protesters.
The closure order was for the business establishments that had not complied with the fire safety requirements, according to Elmaco.
Because of the stalled implementation of the closure order on Thursday, the BFP and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation & Detection Group are planning to file charges against those responsible for the “assault” on authorities at the Mercado de Bais, said Elmaco.
These persons have been identified, some of whom were carrying weapons, he added.
Elmaco said it is only a matter of time before the closure order will have to be implemented unless revoked by the BFP in Region 7. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)
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