MABALACAT CITY – Premier mall developer SM is in the process of forging a partnership with the local government here for the construction of a new public market.
In a press release, Mayor Marino Morales said SM’s Henry Sy will support the development of a new multi-level Mabalacat Public Market right at the site of the old, crowded, dilapidated one along MacArthur Highway in Barangay San Francisco.
“Ginagawa po natin ang lahat para mapabuti ang kalagayan ng ating mga nagtitinda sa public market at para narin sa ating mamimili (We are doing everything we can to improve the market condition for the benefit of our vendors as well as market-goers),” Morales said.
According to the first-term city mayor, the new market’s ground floor will be dedicated to the stall owners at the old market. SM will have the second floor for its own tenants and the third floor will serve as parking lot.
“Absolutely no one among the current market vendors will be displaced,” Morales vowed. “Or dislocated with the entry of SM.”
It can be recalled that public market vendors in the City of San Fernando complained of “economic dislocation” when SM City Downtown was put up in the Poblacion area.
“We have a totally different set-up here,” Morales said in an interview. “Rather than competitive, SM and the public market vendors are in complete symbiosis, housed together as they are in one site.”
Morales noted “SM’s drawing power to consumers will be a big boon to our public market vendors, infected as they are with it in the new public market.”
Complementary to the new market project, Morales said a National Meat Inspection Service-approved “Triple A” abattoir is set to be constructed in the city.
“This is our way of guaranteeing the safety of the food in every Mabalaqueno table,” said Morales.
