Mabuhay ang mga naglalako sa kanilang pandaigdigang araw! - MMVA

Pandaigdigang Araw ng mga Naglalako ang Mayo 26

May 26 - International Hawkers' Day

Pandaigdigang Araw ng mga Naglalako ang Mayo 26

Paanyaya sa aklat ng vendors

MMVA observes International Street Vendors Day

Metro Manila Vendors Alliance

November 14, 2013

MMVA on International Street Vendors Day: 

SELLING GOODS IN THE STREETS IS NOT A CRIME!

The Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA) joins the nation and street vendors around the world in celebrating the International Street Vendors Day this November 14.

The International Street Vendors Day was declared by StreetNet International, a global collective of street vendor organizations working in Latin America, Africa and Asia, during its 10th year anniversary on November 14, 2012. StreetNet was formally launched in Durban, South Africa, in November 14, 2002, two-and-a-half months after MMVA was conceived on August 30, 2002.

We commemorate those who sacrifice their life and limbs in defending their livelihood and those who continue to fight for the rights of vendors to be recognized, respected and protected. We celebrate because somehow street vendors in many parts of the world are now recognized as human beings with rights like the other sectors in the community.

When we were organized as Metro Manila Vendors Alliance in 2002, vendors in Metro Manila were treated like criminals. Street vendors, besieged by a war declared by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando to clear city sidewalks, convened a historic summit on August 30, 2002 at the University of the Philippines church in Quezon City to establish the Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA). Fernando's campaign, such as destroying stalls and sprinkling of gas at vegetables, fruits and goods to drive away vendors, has deprived vendors of their only honest means of livelihood, and vendors have to fight to survive. Vendors called Fernando a "Hitler" due to his tactics of putting fire to confiscated goods from the vendors without properly documenting them.

In our manifesto during that summit, we said: "For poor people like us, sidewalk vending is an economic necessity not a travesty of laws. We are not criminals. We find it more detestable to see our government selling all its properties to foreign and private corporations than to see ordinary people selling their merchandise in the streets at a bargain price."

Two congressmen even delivered speeches in the House of Representatives against human rights violations of street vendors' right to live and right to livelihood. Rep. Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco, from Iloilo 2nd district, delivered his privilege speech entitled "Fuel for the Fire: Kerosene for a Filipino Holocaust" on August 21, 2002. Sanlakas partylist Representative JV Bautista delivered his privilege speech entitled "Maliliit na Manininda ng Kamaynilaan: Dapat bang Kamuhian o Dapat Tulungan? (Street Vendors in Metro Manila: Should be Despised or Should be Helped?), October 8, 2003. Rep. Bautista said in his speech: "From July 2002 up to now, Mr. Speaker, the Metro Manila Vendors Alliance has recorded untold cases of physical assault from MMDA operatives ranging from harassment to extreme use of force that resulted to serious physical injuries to the death of three vendors."

We, street vendors, are also workers. Maybe you may call us as informal workers, because we are not working in a factory, but we work through selling in the streets. We work in our own way in order that our children eat three times a day, and because we are not employed by anyone. We sell food and other wares in the streets. Many vendors are women, mothers of three to five children. We vendors are also victims, because of kotong, or giving money to cops everyday for our protection. We vendors are informal workers with the same right like other sectors of society that should be given or have access to social protection by the state. Eleven years have passed, and Fernando was gone after the presidential election in 2010, but the street vendors have to continue to fight for their right to honestly earn their living.

As we celebrate the International Street Vendors Day with other street vendors in other parts of the world, the MMVA is one with them in solidarity in fighting for a decent living and social protection, and should be allowed to exercise our collective and individual economic rights, as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). We also hope that MMVA became a part of the Asia level Alliance of Street Vendors which the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) is organizing.

Mabuhay ang mga maliliit na manininda! Mabuhay ang Metro Manila Vendors Alliance! Mabuhay ang pagdiriwang ng International Street Vendors Day!

For more information, please contact: Tita Flor Santos at cellphone # (63-2)916-4815685, and Val de Guzman, secretariat staff, at (63-2)919-9657509.

Mensahe ng MMVA sa ika-20 Anibersaryo ng BMP

MENSAHE NG PAKIKIISA

SA IKA-20 ANIBERSARYO NG BMP

Setyembre 14, 2013

Kami, mula sa Metro Manila Vendors Alliance (MMVA), ay taos-pusong nakikiisa sa Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) sa pagdiriwang nito ng kanyang ika-20 anibersaryo ngayong ika-14 ng Setyembre 2013.

Ang mga vendor, o mga maliliit na manininda, ay mga manggagawa sa impormal na sektor. Wala kami sa pabrika at hindi swelduhan ng kapitalista, ngunit nabubuhay rin kami sa pamamagitan ng lakas-paggawa, sa pamamagitan ng aming sariling diskarte upang mabuhay sa lipunang ito.

Nagbebenta kami ng kung anu-anong mapapagkakitaan, lalo na sa bangketa, umaasang sa pamamagitan nito ay makakain kami at ang aming pamilya sa araw-araw. Ngunit dumaan kami sa pagsubok kung saan winawasak ng pamahalaan at sinusunog ang aming mga paninda, gayong nais lang naming mabuhay ng marangal sa pamamagitan ng pagtitinda, mga dukhang maninindang inagawan ng paninda ng pamahalaan, pamahalaang gumutom sa aming pamilya, at yumurak sa aming dangal. Naging dahilan ang krisis na iyon sa aming mga buhay upang kami'y magsama-sama at itayo ang Metro Manila Vendors Alliance noong 2002.

Naging kaisa namin ang Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino sa mga labang iyon, lalo na sa paghingi ng katarungan sa mga dukhang manininda tulad namin. Napagtanto naming iisang sadya ang ating pinanggalingang uri kaya dapat tayong magtulungan at magkaisa sa ating mga layunin at paninindigan para sa kagalingan ng higit na nakararami sa ating lipunan.

Mga manggagawa sa pabrika at mga vendor na pawang mga manggagawang impormal ay dapat magkaunawaan at magkaisa tungo sa iisang adhikain pagkat ang ating pagkakaisa ay pagpapalakas ng ating kilusan sa lahat ng panig ng kapuluan. Parehong lakas-paggawa ang ating mga armas upang mabuhay natin ang ating mga pamilya. Ang pagkakaisa natin sa layunin tungo sa pagbabago ay isa nang matibay na pundasyon upang makamit natin ang ating mga adhika.

Sa ika-20 anibersaryo ng Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, kami pong mga vendor ay kaisa nyo sa pakikibaka para sa isang maayos na patakaran ng pamamahala at lalo na para sa pagtatayo ng isang lipunang pantay-pantay. Kaisa nyo ang buong Metro Manila Vendors Alliance sa tuluy-tuloy na pangangarap, pagkilos at pakikibaka para sa isang lipunang walang pagsasamantala ng tao sa tao. 

Mabuhay ang Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino! Mabuhay ang mga vendor! Mabuhay tayong lahat!

Pagpupugay sa ika-11 anibersaryo ng MMVA

Manininda laban sa pork barrel