Ubay tops best Bohol markets

ASSERTING its pivotal role in anchoring trade and commerce in Northeastern Bohol , Ubay Public Market, which occupies a total land area of 2 hectares emerged as the best market in the province-wide Pambansang Pamilihan search for best markets in evaluations held recently. Not to be left out while reassuring the people of its new identity as an awakened economy, market administrators and Local Government Units should be green with envy at newcomer Catigbian Public Market, which revolutionized market sectioning in a color coding scheme to place second best in Bohol. Catigbian only missed 0.6 points to possibly even its weight with Ubay, which tipped the team's scales at 91.6 points. Queuing at third place is Valencia Public Market at 88 points. With their ranks, the three markets also earn the benefit of representing the province in the regional screening and evaluation, which should start this week.

The three markets, apart from possibly garnering potential regional awards have every reason to celebrate. They qualify for a provincial award apart from recognition in a ceremony set as one of the main activities of the Consumer Welfare Month celebration. The three markets topped the province's 14 town and city markets, which earlier pre-qualified for the Pambansang Pamilihan 2006 search, as implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry. A component of the Bantay Bilihin Program, the Pambansang Pamilihan is a nationwide search of public and private market places complying with fair trade laws including price tags and other regulations on weights and measures, safety and quality standards.

A province-wide screening of public markets was conducted starting August, by a selection team, whose members gathered individual public market profiles. The screening also included ocular inspections and evaluations to sum up Bohol 's top three winners to vie for the regional competition, a Provincial Selection Team (PST) member said. Members of the PST are representatives from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), Philippine Information Agency (PIA), Tagbilaran Association of Concerned Consumers, Inc. (TACCO) and the Department of Trade and Industry. As envisioned, the project aims to motivate the public and private market administrators and vendors to actively participate in ensuring and upholding consumer rights. Moreover, it also aims to establish standards to be followed by public and private market places to ensure consumers' health and safety so that consumers are protected from inaccurate weighing scales, thereby goading market operators to abide by the prescribed standards.

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