Baguio’s market vendors are banding together and looking to raise a total of P4 billion pesos to challenge SM Prime Holdings in the market development project and win back control over it.
Zosimo Abratique, former Baguio chapter president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and head of the Baguio Market Vendors Association (BAMARVA) said that each of the estimated 4,000 vendors are looking to raise P1 million each to come up with the P4 billion.
Abratique had pitched a vendor-led market redevelopment proposal in 2020 as head of BAMARVA after retail giants SM Prime and Robinsons Retail Holdings made separate unsolicited offers to replace Baguio’s historic but worn-down market.
BAMARVA had been knocked out of the running for the bid to modernize the market as the organization had supposedly failed to complete the required documentation, leading to SM gaining original proponent status, a move that has drawn pushback from vendors and residents alike over fears of increased rents and the displacement of vendors.
Should SM win the contract, the shopping mall giant intends to build a P4.6-billion multilevel retail structure in four-and-a-half years, according to Egbert Lim, SM Prime’s senior assistant vice president for operations.
Lim said the SM Prime offer would improve the city’s economy, generate 3,000 jobs, and widen parking for a tourist destination that is beset by daily gridlocks.
But it would need to pass the scrutiny of the City Development Council and the city council before it is subjected to a Swiss challenge, said City Administrator Bonifacio dela Peña.
