Legitimate owners of motorcycle parts stores called on Caloocan City Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan to assist them in curbing the emergence of illegal vendors on 9th and 10th Streets and Rizal Avenue in the city.
According to them, since the quarantine lockdowns began in March last year, illegal vendors suddenly sprouted in their area, becoming a big obstacle and a burden to their business.
The modus operandi of these illegal vendors is to block customers from buying in their stores, they said. Often, even when the customers are already in the store to ask for a part, the illegal vendors still harass them.
Such vendors, the legal shop owners said, have accomplices in small shops in the area “who are definitely without business and working permits.”
“They are illegal, they are bold,” said a businessman, who declined to be named.
He said the rights of consumers are also jeopardized because most of what illegal vendors sell to them are counterfeit, expired, or reconditioned products. Defrauded customers no longer know how to go after the seller of the defective product because these illegal vendors have no legal store, the shop owner added.
Malapitan declared Caloocan as the country’s “Motorcycle Trading Capital” in October 2018.
The shop owners said this kind of harassment and fraud by illegal vendors persists, even if every time they are chased away by the barangay peacekeepers or Captain Josefina Reyes of Bgy. 106, they disappear temporarily, then return again after the authorities leave.
A Chinese businessman was recently beaten by an illegal vendor when he tried to drive them away from his store, the group said.
The businessmen will send a manifesto to Malapitan’s office “to alleviate the pressure they are taking from illegal vendors” and to save the motorcycle industry in the city as well.
The businessmen also sought a dialogue with the mayor and Caloocan City police chief Col. Samuel Mina to discuss how the authorities can help them.
They reminded Malapitan the motorcycle industry is a big help in this time of the pandemic because most of the essential workers who are hired as frontliners have motorcycles as their main means of transportation as they report for work.
Motorcycles are also used by food and delivery riders, who are also harassed by illegal vendors whenever someone buys parts from legal stores, the shop owners said.
If Banawe in Quezon City and Bangkal in Makati City are identified because of car parts stores and four-wheeled vehicles, Caloocan, specifically on the 9th and 10th streets in South Caloocan, is known for around 100 shops for motorcycles, spare parts, and special gadgets related to motoring.
North Caloocan also has some motor parts stores.
A festival called “Arangkada Motorsiklo” was launched last year in Caloocan, featuring a motor show, a drag race, and a two-day sale on motor parts as part of the annual National Tourism Week celebration.
Various motorcycle clubs and associations and other motorcycle enthusiasts from other municipalities, cities and provinces attended the festival.
The motorcycle industry raises huge taxes for City Hall, and they also create a lot of jobs, the shop owners said.
“However, illegal vendors are destroying the motorcycle industry in the city. They are the ones who pay taxes, business permits and pay their staff – apart from the contributions made to SSS and Philhealth – they are still at a disadvantage in this kind of battle,” they said.