ILOILO CITY — A fresh dispute over the treatment of ambulant vendors, or bolanteros, has erupted in Iloilo City after a vendor was arrested outside the Iloilo Terminal Market, prompting a consumer group to question the city government’s enforcement of market regulations.
The arrest, reported on August 19, came as authorities continued their campaign to regulate vending activities around the redeveloped Iloilo Terminal Market, popularly known as the “Super Market.”
The incident has reignited a long-running debate: how far can the city go in enforcing market rules without putting the livelihood of small vendors at risk?
Consumer group protests arrest
The Panay Consumers Alliance (PCA) criticized the arrest and raised concerns over how the city’s enforcement operations are being carried out against ambulant vendors.
The group’s objection comes amid continuing controversy surrounding the city government’s restrictions on bolanteros, many of whom have relied on roadside vending around the public markets for years.
The issue is particularly sensitive because the city has simultaneously been trying to find a more permanent solution for these vendors.
The Manila Bulletin reported that the arrest occurred as Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) head Maricel Mabaquiao continued overseeing the city’s enforcement efforts involving ambulant vendors.
Why are bolanteros being cleared?
The dispute is rooted in the city’s effort to restore order around its modernized public markets.
Under the city’s market regulations, vending within a 100-meter radius of a public market is prohibited. Enforcement intensified after the reopening of the redeveloped Iloilo Central and Terminal markets in late 2025.
The restrictions, however, created a difficult situation for longtime ambulant vendors who had traditionally sold their goods around the market.
In response, the city introduced scheduled Market Days, allowing accredited bolanteros to sell at designated public markets during specified periods. The Iloilo Terminal Market’s designated schedule was Tuesday evening until early Wednesday morning.
But the arrangement has not completely resolved the conflict.
City proposes permanent space for more than 200 vendors
Just a day before the latest controversy, Daily Guardian reported that the city government was preparing to move more than 200 original ambulant vendors to the third floor of the Iloilo Terminal Market.
According to LEEO head Mabaquiao, the proposed arrangement would give qualified longtime vendors their own tables and allow them to sell daily from 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. inside the market.
The proposal specifically prioritizes bolanteros who were already selling at the Terminal Market before its redevelopment and who are included in the LEEO database.
The city said the plan was developed following consultations with legitimate market vendors, who had complained that outside ambulant sellers were drawing customers away from stalls inside the facility.
The proposed third-floor arrangement is therefore being presented as a compromise: give longtime bolanteros a permanent place to earn a living while encouraging shoppers to enter the market and pass other stalls along the way.
A conflict between livelihood and regulation
The controversy did not begin with the latest arrest.
In April, clearing operations involving city personnel, police and other enforcement units already triggered a major confrontation involving bolanteros. Vendors complained of confiscated goods and the loss of their means of livelihood, while city officials maintained that the operations were part of enforcing existing rules.
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers–Panay later questioned what it described as broad restrictions placed on ambulant vendors, including registration requirements, identification cards and an affidavit of undertaking.
Meanwhile, the Panay Consumers Alliance has argued that restrictions on bolanteros can affect not only vendors but also consumers, particularly those who depend on lower-priced goods sold by ambulant traders. The group has previously raised the issue in discussions surrounding Iloilo City’s proposed “Human Rights City” designation.
Legitimate vendors have a different concern
Inside the market, however, regular vendors have their own grievances.
The Iloilo Terminal Market Vendors Association has argued that ambulant sellers operating outside the facility compete directly with registered vendors who pay for their stalls and operate under city regulations.
The city’s Market Day system was partly designed to address this tension by providing ambulant vendors with legal, scheduled opportunities to sell while protecting the interests of registered stallholders.
The latest proposal to move longtime bolanteros inside the Terminal Market represents a significant shift from that temporary arrangement.
Instead of repeatedly clearing vendors from sidewalks and streets, the city is now looking at putting them inside the market itself.
The bigger question
The controversy surrounding the arrest is therefore about more than one vendor.
It reflects a larger struggle over livelihood, public order, consumer access and the future of Iloilo’s public markets.
The city government has said it wants a system that protects legitimate vendors while still providing opportunities for longtime ambulant sellers. Consumer advocates, meanwhile, continue to question whether enforcement is being implemented fairly and proportionately.
With the city now preparing permanent space for hundreds of original bolanteros, the latest arrest raises an unavoidable question:
If a permanent solution is already being prepared, how should enforcement be handled in the meantime?
For now, the arrest has added another flashpoint to a dispute that Iloilo City has been trying to settle since the reopening of its modernized markets.
And with more than 200 longtime vendors expected to receive a permanent place inside the Terminal Market, the next phase of the city’s bolantero policy could determine whether the controversy finally cools down—or gets even bigger.
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