Ban on roadside vendors opposed
Rep. Oscar Babauta yesterday said he will oppose any move that will ban the operation of roadside vendors as a way of curbing their illegal operations.
According to Babauta, such plans will do more harm because it will deprive the CNMI government of the much needed revenue amid the decline of the island’s tourism economy.
Babauta, chair of the House Commerce and Tourism Committee, maintained that existing regulations and statutes must be reviewed to eliminate the loopholes in the law.
Rep. Frank Cepeda has filed a bill seeking to regulate roadside vending, which he said creates traffic jam and endangers motorists. He also proposed a fine of $500 and imprisonment for vendors who would be found operating with proper permits.
Early this year, he met with the Joint Task Force on Roadside Vendors led by the Department of Commerce to submit recommendations to the Legislature on what changes must be carried out after reviewing the current regulations.
Some 80 percent of the 29 roadside vendors licensed to conduct business in the CNMI are locals. But vendors regularly seen operating are mostly Chinese and Koreans. hey sell almost everything from vegetables, meat, apples, bananas, eggs to alcohol and cigarettes.
An investigation conducted by the task force last February and March revealed that many roadside vendors on board their pickup trucks do not have business license, health certificates, cash register, expired car registration, without sanitation permit, among others.
The agencies include the Revenue and Taxation Division, Alcohol and Beverage and Tobacco Control Division, Bureau of Environmental Health.
“Until we get their recommendations, the legislature would not know what changes to make because they are the ones in charge of enforcement,” said Babauta.
The issue regarding the operation of roadside vendors came up again after the Department of Public Health led by Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez conducted surprise inspections against those who are selling food without the necessary health certificates.
Villagomez expressed dismay after learning that the vendors can actually sell anything because the current law does not specify what food items cannot be sold to the public. He ordered the confiscation of eggs since these must be kept at a certain cool temperature to prevent the contamination of bacteria. They were later on destroyed to prevent consumption.
Selling fruits and vegetables was actually a practice in the Northern Marianas by local farmers many years ago as they roam around the neighborhood to sell their excess harvest.
But many have expressed surprised that the roadside vendors are actually selling more than just perishable items which are not permissible under the roadside business license policy. A roadside vendor can apply for a business license for $55.
According to Andrew Salas, administrator of the Alcohol Beverage Control Office, the vendors are actually earning $400 to $500 a night but they are not correctly reporting their earnings to the finance department.
Aside from cheating the government on the amount of taxes that they should pay, the operation of these roadside vendors is unfair to supermarkets, which employ a lot of people, pays electricity and taxes.
