The 80-year-old Bagô Public Market in Brgy. Maquiling, Sagay City, which underwent a P62.5 million major facelift was officially inaugurated on Wednesday, Dec. 18.
The market had started out with makeshift market stalls also known as ‘hayob-hayobs”.
Mayor Narciso Javelosa, Jr., in his speech at the inauguration, said the market is a vital facility as it is a cultural and economic center in the area where vendors of all sorts converge.
City Engineer Jezreel Alingco said that the project was started Aug. 18, 2022 with project cost of P62,489,030.
About P60.6M came from a loan while the city government put up a counterpart of P2 million for the project, which started during the administration of former mayor now Rep. Alfredo Marañon III, a press release from Sagay City said.
The market now features 7,400 square meters of concrete area with a wastewater treatment facility, drainage system, perimeter fence and materials recovery facility.
It has 19 restaurant stalls, 16 fruit stalls, 14 sari-sari stalls, 30 RTW stalls, 8 meat counters, 40 fish counters, and 72 dry goods or bagsakan spaces.
Brgy. Maquiling Captain Miraluna Diotay said that the market has been in existence since the 1950’s and is where people living in the upland areas of Sagay would go to purchase and barter goods.
“During those times, the people from the mountains would bring their farm products and barter them for fish, shrimp paste, dried fish, and other sorts of products found in the lowland area”, Diotay said.
Vendors from Escalante, Toboso, and Cadiz City also sell their goods in the area, making it a vital economic and cultural center in the southern part of Sagay.
The market will be under the management of the city’s Environment and Economic Management Office and a public hearing will be conducted to discuss its stall rent rates.
The Sagay City government has also improved other major markets in the city, including the Sagay City Farmers’ Market, Vito Public Market, Paraiso Public Market, and construction is ongoing at the new Old Sagay Public Market.
The improvements all started during Marañon’s administration, the press release said.*