BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – City Hall has had enough of promises from woodworkers who have been using a major thoroughfare here as their work and display area, blocking traffic and causing jams at certain times, and will be confiscating their products that they can redeem after the payment of fines.
“Their compliance is shortlived,” City Legal Officer Romeo Carlos Ting told DNX as he confirmed that they will seize furniture found blocking Lopez Jaena Street after repeated requests from the city government proved futile to convince the artisans, mostly residents of Village 27 to keep their business off the street.
“They will comply with our request to clear the road but a week or so later they would be back to displaying their products on the streets again,” Ting said.
He added the measure they have taken is based on a city ordinance, the details of which, however, he cannot recall.
The Ordinance Enforcement Unit under Ting’s office and traffic enforcers, he said, will maunly implement the confiscation.
Worse, some netizens have observed, these woodworkers have also been using the street as their worksite, from cutting to assembling to finishing their products.
“It’s a multi-million worksite,” one reader who asked not to be named told DNX in a direct message.
Some jeepney passemgers also said the most dangerous part is the finishing of the furniture when the sanding and painting take place.
One said fine wood dust during the sanding process is dangerous if it gets into a person’s eyes or lungs, the same with varnish or shellac that is being sprayed on the roadside.
Ting said the confiscated products can be redeemed from City Hall with the payment of the appropriate fines
