Republic of the Philippines

Tarlac State University

College of Arts and Social Sciences
Tarlac City

CAPSULE PROPOSAL

NAME OF INSTITUTION : Tarlac State University

PROPONENT/S : Buena, Alona Joy

Miranda, Shanelle
Villanos, Armand

TITLE OF RESEARCH : Street Vendors: Actions to Improvement

TYPE OF PROJECT : Social Science Research

DURATION : 7 months
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Street vendors are an integral part of the world's urban

economies, contributing to vibrant retail markets and providing

an array of affordable, accessible goods and services to urban

consumers. Street vending also provides a livelihood for those

who have few employment options, including migrants and

internally displaced people.

Street vendors have been in existence since ancient times.

In all civilizations, ancient and medieval, one reads accounts

of travelling merchants who not only sold their wares in the

town by going from house to house but they also traded in

neighboring countries. Perhaps ancient and medieval

civilizations were tolerant to these wandering traders and that

is why they flourished. In modern times we find that street

vendors are rarely treated with the same measure of dignity and

tolerance. They are targeted by municipalities and police in the

urban areas as illegal traders, the urban middle class complains

constantly on how these vendors make urban life a living hell as

they block pavements, create traffic problem and also engage in

anti-social activities. Though more often than not, the same

representatives of middle class prefer to buy from street

vendors as the goods they sell are cheaper though the quality is

as good as those in the overpriced departmental stores and

shopping malls.

For most street vendors, trading from the pavements is full

of uncertainties. They are constantly harassed by the

authorities. The local bodies conduct eviction drives to clear

the pavements of these encroachers and in most cases confiscate

their goods. A municipal raid is like a cat and mouse game with

municipal workers chasing street vendors away while these people

try to run away and hide from these marauders.

Confiscation of their goods entails heavy fines for

recovery. In most cases it means that the vendor has to take

loans from private sources to either recover whatever remains of

his confiscated goods or to restart his business. Besides these

sudden raids, street vendors normally have to regularly bribe

the authorities in order to carry out their business on the

streets. All these mean that a substantive income from street

vending is spent on greasing the palms of unscrupulous

authorities or to private money lenders. In fact in most cases

street vendors have to survive in a hostile environment though

they are service providers (Bhowmik, 2014).

Philippine street food, also known as “Pagkaing Kalye” in

Filipino, is a wide variety of inexpensive cuisine that you can

buy from vendors or peddlers on the streets. It is essentially

influenced by other neighboring countries' dishes like Chinese

and Japanese, taken to the next level and given a Filipino

twist.

Street food vending offers a significant amount of

employment especially to persons with little education and

training. Poor personal and environmental hygiene contribute

significantly to food contamination and resultant of foodborne

diseases. It is assumed that by their nature, street food

contamination is inevitable, yet millions of people depend on

this source of nutrition and economic livelihood.

Concerns of cleanliness and freshness often discourage

people from eating street food. Lack of refrigeration is often

construed as a lack of cleanliness or hygiene; on the other

hand, street food often uses particularly fresh ingredients for

this very reason. Street food is intimately connected with take-

out, junk food, snacks, and fast food; it is distinguished by

its local flavor and by being purchased on the sidewalk, without

entering any building. Both take-out and fast food are often

sold from counters inside buildings. With the increasing pace of

globalization and tourism, the safety of street food has become

one of the major concerns of public health, and a focus for

governments and scientists to raise public awareness.

Before street food vending activities in most developing

countries are mostly outside the regulation and protection of

the governments. The economic importance of the activities is

not well appreciated due to the informal nature of the

enterprise and the lack of official data on the volume of trade

involved.

The sector is fraught with unwholesome activities which

have been reported to pose serious concerns over the safety of

the practitioners, especially the health of the consumers. These

unwholesome activities traversed the whole chain of street food

business from agricultural raw materials to the final retail

street foods and have been fingered in the outbreak of diseases

and illnesses. The prevention, maintenance, and treatment of

diseases from street foodborne illnesses were reported to result

in a heavy drain on the purse of individuals and governments in

the developing countries due to huge spending involved. The

meager resources that could have been used for infrastructural

development are being channeled to treatment of preventable

diseases outbreak due to the unwholesome activities mentioned

above (Bildan et. al. 2018).

Today, local authorities, international organizations and

consumer associations are increasingly aware of the

socioeconomic importance of street foods but also of its

associated risks. The major concern is related to food safety,

but other concerns are also reported, such as sanitation

problems such as waste accumulation in the streets and the

congestion of waste water drains and also the hygiene practices

of the vendors. The heavy dependence on street foods by

urbanites requires that good quality raw materials be used and

that the foods be prepared handled and sold under hygienic

conditions for the assurance of good health. There is a need to

properly address the problems associated with street foods,

especially food safety concerns (The Sanitation and Hygiene of

Street Food Vendors, 2016).

Local Government Units (LGUs) are the ones responsible for

regulating ambulant vendors. Republic Act No. 10611 or the Food

Safety Act, states, "The LGU shall also be responsible for

street food sale, including ambulant vending."

Though there is no law in the Philippines regulating street

vendors. There was a movement urging the amendment of the Code

on Sanitation of the Philippines to include stricter rules

regarding ambulant vending.

The code, which was signed by President Ferdinand Marcos on

December 23, 1975, only mentions that ambulant food vendors

should only sell bottled drinks, biscuits, and confectionaries.

"It is prohibited for food vendors to sell food that requires

the use of utensils," the Code states. Davao and Naga cities

have the best practices in controlling street vendors

(Naliponguit, 2015).
 That’s why the Tarlac City government’s programs regarding

street vendors caught our interest wherein they conducted

seminars regarding food safety for street food alley vendors.

They also allotted a designated space where in the street

vendors could conduct their business without disturbing the

sidewalks of the City. We would like to know if there are other

programs or plans of action the government had to improve the

plight of street vendors by consulting to the city hall and DILG

office about it.

This study will concentrate about the programs and plans of

action to improve the plight of street vendors in Tarlac City.

This research will therefore engage in understanding the

perceptions among vendors, consumers and the implementors of the

rules and policies in street vending in Tarlac and research how

they are affected in various ways.

This study is important to describe the knowledge,

attitudes and practices of street vendors in an urban setting,

with regard to the effect of the Tarlac City government’s

programs. Through such research, gaps in the programs among

street food vendors can be identified in order to underpin the

development of more specifically targeted and effective training

programmed for such groups. Costumers’ confidence and regulatory

control in street vending can thus be achieved and the

detrimental effects of food poisoning incidents on the customers

as well as the city would be minimized. The ability of street

vendors to prepare safe foods could still be questionable with

the perception sustained that street vendors pose a health risk

for all customers. It is also important to know what are the

street vendors practices in terms of handling their product for

the benefits of their consumer. Also to prevent of facing in the

future of having foodborne illness that will cause of death of

many people.

Statement of the Problem

This documentary seeks to present the programs of the

Tarlac City Government for the street vendors.

Specifically, this research seeks to answer the following

sub problems:

1. How do the programs of the Tarlac City government affect

street vendors in terms of:

1.1. Income

1.2. Sanitation

1.3. Safety

2. How may the problems encountered by street vendors in

relation to the programs of the City Government be

described?

3. How do vendors address these problems encountered?

 4. How may the challenges in the implementation of the

program for the street vendors be addressed by the city

government?

Objectives of the Study

This documentary is intended to achieve its main objective

in assessing the street vending programs and plans of action at

Tarlac City.

Specifically, it fulfills the following objectives.

1. To present the program of Tarlac City government

regarding street vending and how it affects their income,

sanitation and safety.

2. To determine problems encountered by street vendors in

relation to the programs of the City Government.

3. To know how vendors address these problems encountered.

4. To show how the city government address the challenges in

the implementation of the program for the street vendors.

Significance of the Studies

The finding of this documentary will be noteworthy to all

street vendors, street food consumers, Tarlaqueño’s and to the

government.

Street Food Vendors. This study aims to effectively

encourage vendors to improve street food safety and thereby

minimize the dangers of foodborne diseases, it is vital to gain

in-sight into the perceptions which form practices and attitudes

towards food safety and hygiene.

Tarlac City Government. This documentary will help the

government realize the effectivity of their programs and what

they can do to improve it in the future. Also, they’ll know of

what are the other concerns they should address regarding street

vending.

Consumers. To let the other possible consumers know that

the street food today are handled better and clean for them to

eat, so as to increase the possible customers.

Researchers. This study will give information about the

past programs and plans of action of Tarlac City government’s

street vending that will take root in the student mind that they

will carry and share to the next generation.

Scope and Delimitations

This study will focus in the programs and plans of actions

of the government of the City of Tarlac for the street food

vendors.

The study will involve the street food vendors, customers

and the implementors themselves and experts on this field around

Tarlac City. The study will be delimited wherein the

observations were done only by the Researcher. This study

attempted to look into the factors that are related to the

programs of the street vendors in Tarlac City.

Definition of Terms

The following words or terms used in the study are hereby

defined either lexically or operationally to provide

understanding about the study.

Ambulant: The street vendors are able to walk around; not

confined in one place. The street vendors move from one place to

another.

Consumers. Pertains to the customers of street food vendors.

Implementors: Refers to the LGU’s, specifically the government

of the Tarlac City who implemented the programs regarding street

vending.

LGU: Officially local government in the Philippines often called

local government units or LGUs, are divided into three levels –

provinces and independent cities; component cities and

municipalities; and barangays.

Programs: Refers to the implemented actions of the government of

the Tarlac City to help improve the plight of street vendors.

Street Food: The term “street food” has been defined as “ready-

to-eat” foods and beverages prepared and / or sold by vendors

and hawkers, especially in street corners and other similar

public places for immediate consumption.

Street Vendor: Broadly defined as a person who offers goods for

sale to the public at large without having a permanent built up

structure from which to sell.

Bibliography:

Research

University of Arkansas System (2016), "The Sanitation and Hygiene of Street Food Vendors."

https://studymoose.com/the-sanitation-and-hygiene-of-street-food-vendors-essay

Prof. Criselda Alamo-Tonelada (2018), Sanitary Conditions Of Food Vending Sites and Food

Handling Practices of Street Food Vendors: Implication for Food Hygiene and Safety

http://www.ijern.com/journal/2018/March-2018/04.pdf

Online Sources

Discus (2013), Philippine Street Foods

http://www.travel2rp.com/street-foods.html

WEIGO (2018), Street Vendors and the Law

http://www.wiego.org/informal_economy_law/street-vendors-and-law

Sharit K. Bhowmik and Debdulal Saha (2014), Overview of Street Vendors – A Little History

http://nasvinet.org/newsite/overview-of-street-vendors-a-little-history/