The Pangasinan Star ONLINE

WINDOWS
By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

Last week, several vendors occupying the stalls at the second floor of the New Malimgas Public Market trooped to the Sangguniang Panlungsod session hall to ask the city government for lower rental fees saying that their small businesses are already losing heavily.

Very few people, according to them, go to the area despite its being fully air-conditioned, despite its escalator, despite its two-level parking and despite the city government’s full-blast tri-media advertisements of the new public market as the most modern and cleanest in the country.

In fact, 46 stalls have closed and many more vendors are contemplating to give up theirs if they could not cut their overhead expenses, such as the rental fees.

What could have gone wrong? Wasn’t the market built on the premise that a cleaner, brighter and air-conditioned market will attract more buyers? That people would not mind spending a little more as long as they can buy what they need comfortably?

When the city government borrowed P256 million to construct the public market building, and P30 million more for its centralized air-condition system, Mayor Benjamin Lim was very optimistic that the revenues the new market will generate will be more than enough to pay for the annual amortizations of these loans such that on the 5th or 7th year, the city will already be earning millions from its operations.

But with stalls closing down, the mayor’s projections seem to have gone awry or amiss. The city hall is in for a long rough ride ahead.

Interviewed by hard-hitting radio commentator Orly Navarro last week, Lim could only blame the economic crisis that hit the country “because of the present political crisis” and of course, he said, because this time of the year, it’s gawat or lean season.

He, too, as owner of the Magic Group of Companies, which is engaged in retail business in the province, experienced dramatic decrease in sales.

But wasn’t there supposed to have been a feasibility study? Didn’t the planners factor in the rising cost of oil and electricity and the possible economic crisis as an offshoot of a possible political crisis, like what we are in now?

With higher rental fees in the New Malimgas Market, it also means higher prices of goods than those found outside its premises. For instance, a buyer would prefer to buy bangus at the Magsaysay Fish Market not only because the fish there is cheaper by P5 to a kilo but because it is fresher.

Those buying clothing would rather go to the adjacent CSI Market Square or Magic Centerpoint than to the Malimgas Market because they would have a lot of clothes to choose from and in many cases, these are cheaper.

We can only hope that Mayor Lim can reverse the situation at the new market. Fast. Otherwise, we may have just created a white elephant.

ENDNOTES: The Rotary Club of Dagupan, under the leadership of Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez, had PENRO Juan delos Reyes as its first guest speaker in its regular meeting last Wednesday. Delos Reyes talked about environmental laws that Rotarians should know to familiarize themselves with these laws… Nandaragupan, a coffee table book about Dagupan City edited by Ms. Carmen Prieto, was launched at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last Thursday. The book project cost the city government at least P500,000. With each book selling from P2,500 to P3,500, we hope the city government can recoup its expenses.

QUICK QUOTE: There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle. -- Albert Einstein (You can reach Gabriel L. Cardinoza at windows@digitelone.com)