Baguio City public market goes back to business after fire

On March 12, 2023, at 11 p.m. Baguio Public Market’s Block 4 and almost half of Block 3 were struck by fire resulting in 24-million-peso damage from the 1,572 stalls.

The fire is said to have begun at 11 p.m. on March 12, 2023, after most of the market’s vendors had left. The Bureau of Fire Protection Baguio responded immediately; however, their personnel was insufficient, for some trucks were stationed along Camp 7 Kennon Road in Baguio City. Fortunately, the Private Fire Brigade, La Trinidad, Tuba, Baguio Water District, and other private water delivery helped immediately, and the blaze stopped at 1:33 a.m. on March 13.

Block 4, Block 3, the Baguio Market Cooperative, and the Kaldero Section were all affected. The fire destroyed 1,572 stalls out of 3,900, causing an estimated 24 million pesos in damage.

Loss and Subsidy

In the early morning of March 13, vendors started gathering, and one of them was Mrs. Amelia, a highland vegetable vendor.

“Parbangon mi lang ah nga naamwan ta agisimpa kami kuma ti lako.” “Idi nakadanun kamin talaga nga napuuranen, adda iti police line ket haan dakami met mabalin nga paunugen nga agala ti anyaman nga mabalin mi pay nga ilako,” she said.

Mrs. Amelia experienced a total loss of P30,000 but she received a 30,000-peso subsidy, with 10,000 coming from DSWD, DepEd student aid, and the livelihood program.

Mr. Florentino, an onion seller who has two other employees to pay, received just the DSWD subsidy.

“Nabayag bago kami nakabawi iti puhunan mi ta idi haan mi mabalin nga ibaba presyo ta malugi kami, tapos adda manen daytoy napasamak, ket nakarkaro manen ah. Kasaksakada mi lng idi, 25 bags ti sibuyas ket nasurok nga diez mil (10,000 pesos),” he said.

Relocation

In response to the impacts of the fire, the displaced vendors were allowed to vend in different areas of the city, including Hilltop St., Kayang St., portions of Malcolm Square, portions of Perfecto St., and portions of Burnham Park, under Resolution No. 174, Series of 2023. This enabled the vendors to continue their established livelihood sources and sustain their economic operations. At the same time, the local government worked on setting up temporary stalls for their safe vending operation. The money pooled by the vendors since 2020 for transforming the public market was used for their business recovery, according to the president of the Baguio Market Vendors Association Bamava, Zosimo Abartique.

Oplan Bangon Palengke

The BCPO has launched the ‘Bangon Palengke Fund Challenge’ to assist fire victims with their everyday costs. According to City Director Col. Francisco Bulwayan, Jr., they devised a fund-raising strategy to assist merchants in increasing their sales and recovering from the calamity. The said initiative comprised 250 soldiers who, armed with cleaning products and carpentry tools, moved to Blocks 3 and 4 of the city market to carry out the clearing operation on March 13. Marie Venus Tan and her friends were among those who contributed, amassing 1.7 million pesos.

“Baguio Market is iconic for the city, and many people are affected, so the first reaction was to see how we can help,” she told Luzon Headlines.

“Hindi pwedeng matagal yung process. Talagang it was an emergency, so I called on my friends, who were also very supportive of many projects that we’ve had in the past,” she explained. Accordingly, the clearing and putting up of stalls was estimated to be fixed in three months, but Magalong insisted they finish it in 7 days.

No, we don’t have three months. We have seven days to restore the market and the livelihood of our vendors.

"March 19 was the 7th day since the start of the campaign, and on March 20, we turned over the stalls to our vendors with erstwhile burned spaces all cleaned up and cleared of fire debris”. Mayor Magalong stated in an interview.

Indeed, after just seven days, all 1,572 merchants have reopened for business with the space and stalls supplied.