MANILA, Philippines — Fulfilling a campaign promise, new Manila Mayor Isko Moreno gave the “dugyot” city a much-awaited makeover in his first week on the job.

His first target: clearing the chaotic Claro M. Recto Avenue in Manila’s Divisoria commercial area that had long been clogged with street vendors.

"I'll move heaven and earth to clean up the city. Dugyot kami. Papaliguan ko lang naman (We’re filthy. I’ll just give the city a bath)," Moreno, a scavenger who became a movie actor before going into politics and eventually defeating a former Philippine president in the race to Manila city hall, said in a television interview.

“I want to show that I can walk the talk.”

Manila cops have since nabbed two people accused of collecting “rent” from sidewalk vendors allegedly for the city government. In a dialogue with street vendors, he told them they would only need to pay their P40 a day—"etneb" or P20 in the morning, and again in the afternoon—to city hall, and they can stay in less crowded streets.

He also told them that unclogging the streets would bring more foot traffic, which could mean more sales.

While he has drawn kudos for his swift action, the struggle for space in Divisoria also raised concerns over Moreno’s ability to sustain the campaign and whether he can face a tough balancing act of decongesting the Philippine capital without killing the livelihood of informal hawkers.

Limited discussion on vendors' sentiments, livelihood

“Images of the now spacious Divisoria streets and the alleged massive corruption (involving huge amount of money in ‘street transactions’) seem to have convinced many Pinoys of one thing — clearing operations are justified and must continue within and beyond Manila,” Dr. Redento Recio, an urban planning expert at the University of Melbourne, told Philstar.com in an emailed response.

“Amid the euphoric mood and sustained media coverage, there has been limited discussion on the sentiments of the affected street vendors and the impacts of clearing operations on their insecure employment,” Recio added.

The International Labor Organization reported in 2013 that informal workers like street vendors and waste pickers represent 72.5% of total employment in the Philippines outside of the agriculture sectors. Informal vending provides jobs for the poor and cheap goods and services to consumers.

While there are national laws in the Philippines banning street vending, informal traders operating in some cities successfully protested the prohibition and have secured the use of strategically located public space, Washington-based World Resources Institute said in a 2018 working paper.

What can be done?

Section 21 of the Local Government Code of 1991 states that city authorities may “temporarily close and regulate” the use of streets and roads where shopping areas may be established.

Part of that regulation is the city government allowing vendors in Divisoria to occupy the entire stretch of Claro M. Recto Avenue. during the Christmas season, causing heavy traffic.

According to University of Melbourne’s Recio, some planning-governance processes “could address the unjust relations and patronage politics in Divisoria.”

Moreno touched on some of this in his dialogue with Divisoria vendors, saying barangay tanods, or village watchmen, should stop collecting "rent" from the vendors.

"Tanod, inuutusan lang kayo ng tserman... kagawad... saka si Eddie at si Patty... tigilan ninyo kolektahan ang mga vendor. Hindi laway yung sinasabi kong poposasan ko kayo," he said, adding a warning that vendors caught paying unofficial "rent" to those officials would no longer be allowed to sell there.

(Watchman, you are just following orders from the barangay chairman, the councilor, and Eddie and Patty [slang for bribery]...stop collecting from vendors. I'm not just spitballing when I say I'll have you in handcuffs)

He acknowledged that local officials hold sway over their areas and could have vendors evicted on their say so, but assured vendors that city hall would be behind them. Referring to barangay officials and toughs, Moreno said: "Subukan nila. Makita nila ang hinahanap na sakit ng katawan (They can try, and they'll find trouble)."

But beyond tough talk, Recio said authorities should first address the “statistical and spatial invisibility of informal hawkers” by looking into the changing number of street vendors and the evolving issues faced by Divisoria stakeholders.

The results of those studies should be integrated into official planning documents, he said.

"Street vendors work in plain sight, yet they are statistically invisible and are ‘off the map,’" Recio said.

'Time-sharing' of city streets, representation in planning

The city government may also follow a “time-sharing” design in which vendors have particular schedules where and when to sell. “This could address the resulting congestion and prevent the unrestrained commercialization of public spaces,” Recio explained.

Recio likewise proposed the establishment of a committee composed of national government offices, LGUs, non-governmental organizations advocating for the rights of informal workers and representatives from Divisoria vendors and mall operators "to ensure that hawkers are truly represented.”

“Through the committee, civil society groups and Divisoria vendors could identify recommendations that planners should consider in developing local land use plans,” Recio said.

“This move should build on the Local Government Code provisions on local sectoral representation where vendors groups could take part in local policy-making and planning processes.”

Citing Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s successful relocation of 1,100 vendors in Solo, Indonesia after holding several informal meetings with them and listening to their needs when he was still the city’s mayor, Recio highlighted the importance of holding confidence-building activities with hawkers.

“It is important to have a process where the most affected get a chance to shape the plans that would affect their lives,” Recio said. “This approach does not only address street congestion; it deepens democracy and confronts socio-spatial exclusion in cities.”

‘Wider, humane and inclusive urban vision’

A 2015 survey by GPS-based navigation app Waze found Metro Manila had the worst traffic on earth with average commute lasting up to 45.5 minutes—the longest compared to 18 other metro cities in the world covered by the report.

Separately, a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency revealed that road congestion in Manila — which is notorious for its acutely inadequate road network and outdated infrastructure — cost the economy P3.5 billion daily in 2017 from P2.4 billion in 2012.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Tuesday, Moreno said he ordered the reassignment of nine cops after he received reports that vendors have resisted eviction and are back on the sidewalks.

“The struggle for space in Divisoria should not only be about decongesting crowded streets — it should pay attention to the vendors’ precarious condition and heed their call for social legitimacy, legal recognition and political representation,” Recio said.

“I hope Mayor Isko’s clearing operations are anchored on a wider, humane and inclusive urban vision – one that uplifts the dignity of the poor amid the calls for an unimpeded mobility and a ‘smart’ city,” he added.