Orola: Ordinance will allow for award transfers

By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Bacolod City Councilor Bartolome Orola, who chairs the Sangguniang Panlungsod Committee on Markets and Slaughterhouse, is looking to propose an ordinance to allow for the transfer of awards in an effort to combat illegal subletting, or sub-leasing, of market blocks, stalls, and tables at local markets.

“Illegal transfer, or sub-leasing, has been ongoing in our public markets for so long,” he explained.

Orola said his proposed ordinance will allow for the transfer of awards, which, under the current policy, only allows transfers in cases where the designee is either dead or legally incapacitated, in which case the award may be transferred to the surviving spouse, son or daughter, or a business partner.

The city official said his amendment will “straighten out the record of market leases.”

He said many vendors who enter into these subletting agreements are often subject to the “whims” of the initial designee./DGB, WDJ