by Jane Alba, Joseph Benedict Bernardino, Kyla Leoncio, Shiela Mae Maquiñana

DARAGA, Albay – Bing Marbella, one of the market’s pioneering vendors since the Daraga Night Market’s initial installation years ago, has weathered several relocations that have gradually reshaped her livelihood, where business was brisk, their customers came steadily, sales were reliable, and profits can break even within just a week.

As one of the first vendors who sells near the plaza, Marbella said that area particularly near the Quick Mart was ideal due to heavy foot traffic, however, despite its proven profitability, she and other vendors were later relocated to a different site, where fewer customers now pass through and daily income has become uncertain.

At the previous location, Marbella’s night involves early set ups and heavy foot traffic, earning P6000 per night, but now, every night at around 7p.m., she sets up her ukay-ukay stall and sells until 10p.m. She now earns less than P1000 far from P6000 she used to earn from the previous location due to fewer customers.

The relocation has also increased the vendors’ operating costs as they are now prohibited from leaving merchandise from their stalls, forcing many to hire manpower and transport vehicles daily to haul goods from Barangay Ilawod to the market.

“I am already incurring losses because I pay P250 for transportation and P150 for my helper. Altogether, my expenses amount to around P700 per night,” Marbella said.

Similarly, Wella Fegason, a vendor since 2023, acknowledged the new policies aim to create a  more organized market but said income dropped right after the relocation, as regular customers stopped visiting due to the site’s distance and unfamiliar layout.

“Compared to before, our earnings have decreased by about five to ten percent,” Fegason said.

The drop in income occurred after the night market’s relocation. Vendors said that the relocation changed their usual selling routines and made their stalls harder for customers to see. The Daraga Night Market used to be near the public market and the main road where commuters and workers often stopped to buy food, clothes and daily needs on their way home. Now it is located farther from transport areas and shifts into less customer or foot work.

Out of reach: Market move strains vendors, customers

The distance from the main road and parking areas has particularly affected retail buyers who now face longer walks and added transportation costs.

“You may have saved money on the lower priced goods, but you end up spending more on the transportation,” consumer Nancy Bolangos commented on Facebook.

Charito Maquiñana, a regular night market customer, said that the new location poses a challenge for workers returning to rural areas who want to stop by the night market, as the long walk increases the risk of them missing their commute home.

“People say that this area is too far,  and carrying their purchases feels like double the effort compared to before, when we were closer to the road,” said night market vendor Jenna Nipa.

Nipa added that selling at the new site has become physically demanding, prompting her to prefer the former location.

While wholesale transactions remain steady, Nipa said she now relies on selling near the overpass at dawn to supplement her income.

PMO: relocation, stricter guidelines are necessary

In response to the vendors’ concerns, Daraga Market Supervisor Themis Lobete said these reactions reflect what he described as a form of “territorial instinct,” in which vendors are reluctant to leave their familiar locations, which are familiar selling spots and routines tied to long-time customers they fear they might lose.

Earlier this year, the Municipal Public Market Office (PMO) relocated the night market previously from the back of Daraga Public Market, now pushed further along the municipal hall. The new layout sections the vendors according to the type of goods they sell.

To address what PMO described as an unregulated “free-for-all” setup of the market, Lobete said that the relocation was necessary.

Lobete explained that they can no longer accommodate the growing number of vendors, which has led many to operate without proper registration and limited the office’s capacity to monitor and regulate the market’s operation.

The PMO’s records show that the number of vendors in the night market grew from 290 to 379, as vendors and resellers from neighboring municipalities, even as far as Camarines Sur and Cavite, came to the municipality to sell their products.

Lobete clarified that new registrants from other towns are no longer accommodated to regulate the increase.

The policy also revokes the registration of vendors who fail to sell for three consecutive nights without notifying the PMO of a valid reason, and subjects those with violations or compliance issues to be reviewed.

Hefty costs of compliance

Vendors say that the relocation came along with other regulatory changes that have noticeably raised their expenses, leading to less net profit.

Since the relocation, uniforms, identification cards, and documented helpers are now required for vendors to operate, which the PMO sanctions if violated. Additionally, every vendor is now required to formally register at the market office which comes with recurring fees.

With these requirements now made mandatory for operation, vendors face added expense on top of their usual nightly costs.

Nipa said that the rules required them to purchase one shirt for each of their helpers.

“My concern is that we can no longer acquire licenses to operate if we don’t have uniforms. The problem is that the shirt must be worn everyday, but I only wear it when they are inspecting because I do not have a spare to wear,” said Nipa.

This has led to incidents of some vendors allowing undeclared helpers and lending of uniforms and IDs to other sellers, as recorded by the PMO.

Lobete insists that vendors have “caught up” with the added costs but several vendors report otherwise.

Customers’ concerns

Several consumers complain that when they visit the night market late in the evening or early in the morning, the stalls are already closed and they can no longer buy anything.

The vendors said that inclement weather, lack of shelter, and low sales are the main reasons why they are forced to close early.

Marbella said that they close even before 10 p.m. as they no longer have customers visiting their stall, leaving them with unsold goods and profit losses.

Without a tent, something she cannot afford due to low profits prompted by the relocation and losses from recent typhoons, Nipa often has to pack up early when the weather is bad, which has become frequent now in the “ber”months as La Niña remains in effect.

Lobete explained that the shift to an earlier closing operating hours of the night market was prompted by the day market vendors’ previous complaints about losing customers who continued buying from the night market in the morning as they were still there until dawn.

The night market’s operating hours have shifted, now ending at 3:00 a.m., earlier than the previous 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. schedule.

Meanwhile, Agnes Llaneta is one of the few vendors who still lacks their own permanent spaces and moves every time the rightful owner of the stall returns even though they are already registered and permitted for about a week.

“We have permits but we don’t have our own area yet. If someone is already selling here, we must find another spot since the area is already owned by someone else. Since we’re new here, we still don’t have our own permanent spot,“ said Llaneta.

PMO is yet to respond to the concern.

Meanwhile, citizens observe garbage occasionally piling up in the morning despite orientations on proper waste disposal.

Lobete said that this only occurs when the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office collections are delayed or trash scattered by the wind, and assures that all trash is cleared before 5:00 a.m.

Customers also expressed their concerns online about the lack of price inspection and proper price tags they have observed in the market.

“The weighing scales should always be checked, I once experienced that a vendor sold me less than I bought,” customer Steven Hilario commented on Facebook.

Lobete assured that they tightened their customer protection policies, with nightly calibration of weighing scales and checking of price tags

He also urged the public  to observe the market over several nights before judging the new setup.

An evolving experiment and holiday rush

According to Lobete, the Daraga Night Market relocation remains a nightly experiment and admits that it is something they cannot easily consider as already perfect.

“Every night, during the night market operation, in the early morning, we anticipate that there will always be some changes,” he said.

Furthermore, the LGU eyes the possibility of working with private entities such as the Daraga Night Market Vendors’ Association in order to reduce staffing costs from the government and keep the operations sustainable.

Under this public-private partnership model, the market would only require weekly remittances and operations would be done under a memorandum of agreement.

Nipa and several other vendors hope that the partnership model will help alleviate their operational costs so they could regain their losses.

“It would be better if our costs would be reduced because we are already sacrificing so much. It would be better if they lessened the burden so we could have something to add to our expenses for the children,” said Nipa.

With the holiday season fast approaching, the PMO anticipates a surge in shoppers and is considering further adjustments, such as opening additional lanes of stalls to extend the market, and temporary baratilyo or bargain areas, to accommodate the increased consumer traffic and demand.

Lobete added that they will continue to tighten their customer protection policies, with nightly calibration of weighing scales and checking of price tags.

The local government unit projects its income from cash ticket collections and vendor registrations to reach around P3.5 to P4 million by the end of 2025, nearly double its earnings before the relocation—while vendors like Nipa are afraid they can’t even sell enough to buy food for Christmas Eve.