A series of activities and protests were launched by vendors, residents, and others who face impending displacement by the privatization of 7.8 hectares of land in Cebu City, including the area occupied by Carbon Market. These actions were held from March 14 to March 17 and were joined by progressive groups in Cebu.
The Carbon Market has already been privatized and placed under the management of Cebu2World Development Inc. (C2W) under its Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the city’s local government. The local government of Cebu City signed the JVA with Megawide Construction Corporation on January 11, 2021, and transferred the agreement to C2W on May 27, 2021.
The market’s privatization will dispossess an estimated 16,000 vendors and workers of their stalls and jobs. Fees for stalls are expected to increase and vendors will be crammed into much smaller spaces. Clearing the way for the construction of new buildings will also demolish an estimated 700 homes in the nearby Sitio Bato, Barangay Ermita.
Led by the Carbonhanong Alyansa alang sa Reporma ug Bahandianong Ogma sa mga Nanginabuhi (Carbon-hanong Alyansa), the groups pressed anew to review or outright junk the market’s privatization. The alliance is composed of three associations in Carbon Market, nearby sitio residents who face impending displacement by the privatization, and supporters.
Vendors and other sectors gathered at the market on March 14 to light candles, pray, and clang pots and other objects. “Carbon is public, a market that comes from the masses and serves the masses,” a vendor joining the protest declared. She warned the private company and the city that their protests will not stop until the project is scrapped.
Artists and musicians held a concert on the night of March 15 at the market in support of the vendors’ struggle. Counterflow Productions, the Concerned Artists of the Philippines Cebu Chapter, Artista para sa Nasyunalista Demokratiko at Rebolusyonaryong Sining (Andres)-Sugbu, and the Carbon-hanong Alyansa led the concert.
The concert was called “Tabo-Tagbo Para sa Carbon: Street Jam Against Carbon Market Privatization.” In Cebuano, “tabo-tagbo” means the gathering of people which, like the concert, is a coming together of musicians and artists, vendors, and supporters to defend the Carbon Market.
Hundreds joined a march on March 17 from Briones Street to Cebu City Hall where the session and review of the contract were being held. Vendors brought the pushcarts they use in the market to symbolically show their defense of their livelihood. Carbon-hanong Alyansa called on the city council to stand on the side of the people and junk the agreement.
According to Carbon-hanong Alyansa and progressive groups, activities and actions for Carbon Market will continue. A petition questioning the constitutionality of the JVA has at present been filed before the Supreme Court.
