Following its reopening to public operations in February of last year, the Baguio night market has finally returned to its pre-pandemic hours as the COVID-19 situation improves in the city.
On Monday, March 14, the Baguio night market returned to operating from nine o’clock in the evening to two o’clock in the morning, its previous operating hours during the pre-pandemic times.
In February of last year, the night market resumed operations while the city was still under general community quarantine (GCQ) status, but operated with shorter hours and smaller vendor counts.
During this time, the market only operated from 8:30 to 11:30 in the evening, with roughly only a third of market stalls allowed to operate per night.
For a brief period last year, the night market was slashed even further, with curfew rules in April shortening its time to only 9:45 in the evening, a move that was met with heavy criticism and pushback from vendors, who worried that the limited time meant they would not be able to turn a profit.
However, the move has since been rescinded and the night market soon returned to its regular operating hours.before the pandemic.
While the night market is now back to pre-pandemic schedules, the Baguio City government is still ensuring that some level of health protocols are maintained even as restrictions are lowered and loosened in the city.
According to the official advisory, reverting the night market’s schedule, the reason for the change is supposedly to address traffic concerns.
