Quezon City District 2 Councilor Winnie Castelo is proposing a rent payment moratorium for all stallholders and vendors in public markets in the city.
Castelo, who is running for Quezon City vice mayor under the Malayang Quezon City team of mayoral candidate Mike Defensor, made the proposal in Proposed Ordinance No. 485.
The proposed ordinance will cover all public markets in Quezon City. However, it would not apply to supermarkets, hyper-marts, minimarts, groceries, and similar establishments.
Castelo said the COVID-19 pandemic “has continuously affected the livelihood of the people, including market vendors and stallholders, whose number of customers have drastically decreased due to the implementation of a stay-at-home policy.”
“The lockdowns are consistent and remain to be the primary reason for the loss of income and closure of many market stalls in Quezon City,” he said.
He said the proposed rental payment moratorium aims “to alleviate the impact of the pandemic on market vendors and stallholders and enable them to maintain their business and means of livelihood amid the raging health crisis.”
“This measure also aims to shield them from evictions and lawsuits seeking to boot out tenants who are behind in their rental fees,” Castelo added.
The proposed ordinance will cover all public markets in Quezon City. However, it would not apply to supermarkets, hyper-marts, minimarts, groceries, and similar establishments.
The Defensor-Castelo team earlier unveiled a P17-billion economic recovery roadmap, which calls for direct financial assistance to the poor and other vulnerable sectors, new infrastructure projects and improved pandemic responses.
Two other city councilors—Karl Edgar Castelo of District 5 and Melencio Castelo Jr. of District 6, co-authored the measure.
The Defensor-Castelo team earlier unveiled a P17-billion economic recovery roadmap, which calls for direct financial assistance to the poor and other vulnerable sectors, new infrastructure projects and improved pandemic responses.
