Eking out a living

Not too long ago, the C-5 extension near our office was lined in both directions with ambulant vendors selling various types of food, from beef pares to goto, kwek-kwek and farm products including fresh bamboo shoots.

The area, where traffic remains light, became a popular pit stop mostly for motorcycle riders who ate by the roadside. I often stopped to buy bamboo shoots, now increasingly rare, for my lumpia; the vendors told me the plump shoots came from Laguna.

Some months ago the vendors disappeared. Were they eating into the business of registered food outlets in the area? Where there’s demand, however, someone tends to feed it. There are a lot of motorcycle riders along the road. In recent weeks, the ambulant vendors have started returning, but now they operate only at night. And they are enjoying brisk business.

At around the same period, in my neck of the woods, I’ve noticed the streets and sidewalks coming alive, also at night, with an ever-increasing number of ambulant food stalls.

Maybe they are playing hide-and-seek, ready to pack up and run when the authorities come around. In the intense heat, night operations are also better. Or maybe they have struck a modus vivendi with authorities in the area, so they are allowed to earn a living again, but only at night.

This last possibility is better, although I hope they aren’t being made to pay exorbitant fees to operate.

Instead of driving away such vendors, the government should encourage their entrepreneurial spirit.

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Local government units can set aside public space accessible to customers, where the hawkers can operate in a clean, safe environment, free from harassment and extortion.

As a minimum requirement, the vendors must keep their food carts and allotted spaces clean. Basic fees can be collected if the government provides services such as sanitation, safe water and toilet facilities.

For further encouragement, the government can provide training to the hawkers in basic financial literacy and micro business management – in lessons that can be easily understood by grade school dropouts, which most of these vendors are likely to be.

Since we have so many impoverished people willing to