Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong is looking to return the closure of Sundays to simple pedestrianization after complaints and concerns over the use of the road as a commercial space during its closure are mounting.
According to Magalong on Wednesday, the city’s Management Committee (MANCOM) and the City Administrator have been ordered to take a closer look at the operation of Session Road and its commercial use when vendors are allowed to establish stalls on the road.
A concern that Magalong says must be addressed is the cornering of the road space done by specific vendors and traders.
“Even if we say that there is rotation, they just keep repeating. It is all the same people, the same stalls, just under different names. Something is wrong,” Magalong said.
Magalong also said that he has since tasked Baguio’s tourism chief Alec Mapalo to provide an explanation for the state of affairs as the commerce of Session Road during fairs is under the City Tourism Office’s jurisdiction.
In the meantime, Magalong said that he is mulling the return of closed Session Road Sundays to simple pedestrianization and allowing its use for commercial trade and stalls only for government events in the meantime.
“The original intent for closing Session was always so that it could be a public community space, not a commercial area. I think we can return to that,” Magalong said.
