CHALLENGES OF STREET VENDORS IN DIGOS CITY DURING THE

COVID 19 PANDEMIC: BASIS FOR PUBLIC POLICY

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Arts and Sciences
UM Digos College
Digos City

In Partial Fulfillment for the subject Methods of Research

Submitted By:

APOLONIO, MARNELLI

GONZAGA, HIEZL NESS

HUYO – A, KENT JOSHUA

APRIL 2022
 II

APPROVAL SHEET

This research entitled CHALLENGES OF STREET VENDORS IN DIGOS

CITY DURING THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC: BASIS FOR PUBLIC POLICY

prepared and submitted by Hiezl Ness Gonzaga, Marnelli Apolonio and

Kent Joshua Huyo-a in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts Major in Political Science has been examined and is hereby

recommended for final defense and approval.

VIOLA P. BUENAVENTURA, Ed.D

Adviser

PANEL OF EXAMINERS

Approved by the committee for final defense with the grade of _____.

MELCHIZEDEK JOHN S. BAÑAS, MPA CONRADO B. PANERIO, JR., LPT

Chairman Member

Accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of

Arts Major in Political Science

CONRADO B. PANERIO, JR., LPT VIOLA P. BUENAVENTURA, Ed.D

Research Coordinator DAS – Program Head

EDUARD L. PULVERA, MSIS TESSIE G. MIRALLES, Ph.D.

Dean of College – OIC VP – Branch Operations
 III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis becomes a reality with the kind support and help of many

individuals. We would like to extend our warmest thanks to all of them;

Foremost, we would like to give thank to God Almighty for giving us

enough strength, knowledge, and guidance in order to accomplish this

research;

We would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Dr. Viola P.

Buenaventura, who served as our research adviser, for contributing her

knowledge and skills to this work;

We would like to express our appreciation to our family for their

financial and moral support, both of which enabled us to finish this thesis. To

Ares, Rian, and Marlou, who gave us the drive to complete our task;

Last but not least, we would want to express our gratitude to our

Political Science family for their willingness to assist us;

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the aforementioned

individuals because without their direction and assistance, this study would

not have been possible.

Hiezl
Mayette
Kent
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DEDICATION

We dedicated this fruit of labor;

To our families, our children, Ares, Rian and Marlou, who never fail to support

and inspire us;

To our dearest Political Science family, friends, and loved ones who gives us

courage to continue this paper;

And most specially, to the main subject of this study for without their

participation this will not be accomplished

To them we dedicate this paper.

HNG
MLA
KJH
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ABSTRACT

The study undertaken explored the experiences of street vendors

during the Covid-19 pandemic together with their prior life
experiences before the pandemic happens and their coping
mechanisms. The researchers employed a qualitative reseach and
utilizing a descriptive-phenomenological approach as methods in
this study. The researchers interviewed 10 street vendors from
Digos City to take part in this study and make use of thematic
analysis in analyzing the results. There were four (4) themes
derived from the life of street vendors before the pandemic namely;
Unrestricted Selling, Accessibility of Goods and Costumers,
Stability of Income, and Challenges on weather and Competitors.
There were also four (4) themes for the challenges of street
vendors during the pandemic videlicet; Loss of costumers; Unstable
Income, Restrictions during Pandemic, and Good’s Discrimination.
Lastly, there were three (3) main coping mechanisms utilized by the
street vendors; Part-Time Job; Alternative Selling Techniques, and
Government Assistance such as Social Amelioration Program
(SAP), Cash Assistance & Food Assistance. The findings of the
study therefore depicts that there were significant changes
experienced by street vendors during the pandemic and that there
is a must for a construction of public policy to provide for their
needs and privileges as street vendors in the city. The study
recommended for an establishment of public policy concerning the
right, privileges, duties and obligations of the street vendors in
Digos City.

Keywords: Street Vendors, Challenges during Pandemic, Descriptive-

Phenomenological, Thematic Analysis, Public Policy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE I

APPROVAL SHEET II

ACKNOWLEDGMENT III

DEDICATION IV

ABSTRACT V

TABLE OF CONTENTS VI

LIST OF FIGURES VII

LIST OF TABLES VIII

INTRODUCTION

Introduction 1

METHODS

Participants 7

Materials and Instruments 8

The Design and Procedure 9

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Street Vendors’ Life Before Pandemic 12

Street Vendors’ Life During Pandemic 22

Coping Mechanims of Street Vendors 36

Discussion 44

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion 48
Recommentations 50

REFERENCES 51
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APPENDICES

A Routing Form

B Letter of Permission

C Assignment of Resarch

Personel Form

D Data Analyst Certification

E Grammarly’s Report

F Plagiarism Report

G Signed Informed Consent

H Research Questions with

Interview Guide Questions

I Validation Sheets for Interview

Guide

J Transcribed Responses and

Translated Responses

K Interview Guide Questions Script

CURRICULUM VITAE
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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

1 Street Vendors’ Life Before Pandemic 12

2 Street Vendors’ Life During Pandemic 22

3 Coping Mechanims of Street Vendors 37

 1

INTRODUCTION

As the pandemic created havoc worldwide, an estimated 3.5 million

Filipinos who work in the informal economy and run modest stalls were

affected. As daily wage earners, street sellers had little or no savings to

protect them from the harsh effects of the economic slump imposed by

quarantine regulations (Layesa & Obanil, 2021). According to the International

Labour Organization (ILO) (2020), 2.5 billion people, or half of the global

workforce, labor in the informal economy was affected due to Covid – 19. The

world has been in chaos due to the Covid 19 pandemic which has hit the

world; hence, many people have been affected because of the mandate to

stay at home. A government-imposed lockdown in the aftermath of the

COVID-19 pandemic has limited people's access to transportation. Still, it has

also made it impossible for informal workers – construction workers and street

food vendors, etc. – to engage in activities that are their only means of

survival (Allison & Rohel, 2021). The utter devastation and uncertainty for

financially strained minority groups parallel the stark inequities of precarious

informal street vendors in cities across the global South (Heisler, 2020).

Street vendors struggle with "challenging legislative frameworks"

worldwide (Roever and Skinner 2016). In rural and urban parts of developing

countries, the informal sector is the most important source of employment and

financial security. Whereas street sellers are not recognized and controlled by

the state, they receive no official support for their business. They encounter

various issues, including intimidation and pressure from the police, municipal

officials, local leaders, and market contractors or rent-seekers (Prasad, 2018).

 2

Street sellers play an important but sometimes underappreciated role in both

the vitality of public areas and the informal economy in Southeast Asia's

emerging countries, specifically in the Philippines. Even though they are

widely recognized for their value, they are frequently mischaracterized as

"illegal," "flagbearers of disorder," "nuisances," and "tax evaders" (Deore &

Lathia, 2019).

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a growing body of research has

sought to understand how the pandemic has affected vulnerable people,

particularly those who work in the informal economy (Grundy-Warr & Lin,

2020). According to such studies, informal economy employees have been

disproportionately affected by the pandemic, including government-imposed

lockdowns and movement restrictions, due to their lack of social protection

and economic security (Unni, 2020). While some informal workers have

managed to make a living while facing various challenges, others have had

their livelihoods completely halted or outlawed, resulting in fast-rising poverty

and food insecurity rates (Omobowale, Oyelade & Falase 2020). Many

informal laborers have serious health difficulties due to these situations and

injustices, which will have long-term consequences (World Health

Organization, 2020).

The pandemic has had three significant effects on street vendors'

operations and earnings. The first is related to the lockdowns, which limited

the ability of street vendors to operate and thus their income. The second is

that after the lockdowns were lifted, some street vendors did not resume their

typical levels of operation and earnings. The third element is the broader

economic circumstances that have lowered their sales and profits (WEIGO,
 3

2021). Some street vendors were unable to operate as a result of the

lockdown regulations, either because enforcement officers misinterpreted or

ignored laws allowing them to do so and evicted them or confiscated their

goods or because enforcement officers misinterpreted or ignored laws

allowing them to do so and expelled them or confiscated their goods. Curfews

and movement restrictions also curtailed their operating hours and reduced

client numbers due to diminished foot traffic. Disruptions in supply networks

for street vendors' products or inputs are also impacted. During the

lockdowns, there was also greater competitiveness (Meher, Alok, Lokesh &

Parul, 2020).

Regarding social protection, street vendors fall into the "missing

middle" category (Alfers and Mousie, 2019). The statement means they are

"too poor" to be covered by social insurance and "too rich" to be eligible for

government-funded social assistance, typically reserved for the poorest and

most vulnerable of the poor. COVID-19 has revealed the repercussions of

denying social protection to most of the world's workers (International Labor

Organization, 2020). Informal workers require financial assistance to

compensate for revenue loss or reduction due to restrictions on movement

and work during and after lockdowns, as well as illness of the worker and

family members. When they or their family members become ill with COVID-

19, informal laborers also require medical attention (Chen, 2020).

The study undertaken uses the demand-side approach and utilizes two

(2) of its demand-side theories, mainly the financial gains (FG) and formal

economy failures (FEF) explanations. The theory was established by Williams

and Martinez-Perez (2014). Researchers also adapt Culiberg and Bajde's

 4

(2014) term "perception" and investigate its relevance in better

comprehending these theories. Researchers can explore the demand side of

street selling and how this demand feeds and pushes street vendors to sell

despite hardship and confrontations with the government by applying these

theories, perceptions, and (socio) economic variables.

The FG explanation discusses rationally why the street vendors

decided to venture out in the streets beyond the problems and challenges

they are encountering. They weigh the pros and cons of their options, to sell

or to not sell, then break "the law [patronize merchants] when the estimated

punishment and possibility of detection are less than the earnings" (Williams

and Martinez-Perez, 2014: 803; Sookram and Watson, 2008). This statement

could explain why, even though street vending is illegal, it continues to thrive.

Basinski (2009) demonstrates that sellers are willing to take risks, vend, and

suffer the consequences because they have no other source of income.

Based on the FEF explanation, individuals support street vendors due to

'failures of the formal economy,' such as delays in delivery, 'lack of availability

and reliability,' and the 'quality' of formal enterprises' goods/services (Williams

and Martinez-Perez, 2014). Typically, vendors enable people to easily and

quickly access goods and services, regardless of location or time.

Furthermore, FEF also depicts the situation wherein the economy cannot

provide more jobs for those citizens who did not pass the qualifications for the

position in the formal economy, which is why they ventured out to the informal

economy, more specifically being a street vendor.

These two theories, FG and FEF, showcase the demand for street

vendors in a society; ergo, they appear and continuously strive to make a

 5

living. In another outlook, the demand-side theory can also explain that

because of the needs of these street vendors to make a living, they are

exploring alternative ways and other activities to produce an income. It is

because the government often misunderstands them due to their standing in

society and them being usually branded as illegal and a nuisance. The

strength of this theory is that it implies the fact that street vending ad street

vendors are alive and continuously selling, even despite the pandemic, was

because these vendors from the informal sector are not given enough

opportunity and privileges granted to the formal sector of the society; hence,

they tried to pursue other ways to supply the demand not just of the people

but also their demand to live.

This academic study focused on street trading since this represents an

essential connection between public space, economic activity, and causation.

The researchers seek to see street vendors' experiences during the pandemic

and how the government has helped them. Moreover, researchers could not

locate more or less a study concerning the street vendors in Digos City and

the challenges they have faced, especially now in the new normal time.

Therefore, the researchers see the essence and importance of this research

endeavor. This study can expand the collection of a body of knowledge and

insight from the standpoint of the street vendors. The study might be highly

beneficial to the local government in assisting more sidewalk merchants

affected by the Covid 19 situation. Creating dynamic and appealing streets

enlivens public urban places and improves public safety. Promoting street

vendors can help create jobs, keep people safe, and give communities the

vitality and comfort they deserve. The researchers believe that there is a must
 6

to seize this opportunity to imagine a livelier, exciting, and resilient post-

pandemic city.

The study focused mainly on the street vendors greatly affected by the

pandemic and the imposed lockdown of the city. The researchers only got

respondents from Digos City and no other areas. One weakness of this study

is that researchers only focused on vendors selling out in the streets and does

not include those inside the public market or those vendors having their

establishment; thus, their views and opinion cannot be used as a comparison

to enhance the study further.

This new normal has brought more challenges to the street vendors

rather than opportunities to catch up with their loss at the peak of COVID 19.

Street Vendors amid the pandemic have encountered loss of income,

customers, and paying for the space rental without gaining profit, and a lot to

mention. Academic research on street vending is standard because it

presents an intriguing combination of public space, economic activity, and

temporalities. It also provides an essential service to the urban poor by giving

lower-cost food and supplies. Since street vendors' informal and temporary

use of space is considered out of the usual and challenging to foresee or

govern, it is difficult for officials to plan specific processes for street vendors.

As a result, they are mostly recognized as criminals, and action is taken

against them (Neary, 2018). The primary objective of this research is to see

the challenges the street vendors experienced before and during the

pandemic and their coping strategies in facing the challenges. Furthermore,

the researchers also want to examine the benefits street vendors gain during
 7

these trying times. This research endeavor fueled the researchers to conduct

this study.

Specifically, this study seeks to explore the following:

1. What is the life of the street vendors before the pandemic?

2. What are the challenges faced by the street vendors during the

pandemic?

3. What are the coping strategies of the street vendors during the

pandemic?

METHODS

Participants

The research participants for this study are street vendors residing in

Digos City. The researchers will utilize ten (10) research participants for this

study. Many articles, book chapters, and books advocate guidance, with 5 to

50 participants considered acceptable. The number of participants, however,

is determined by the qualitative research approach. Creswell & Creswell

(2018) claims that narrative studies contains 1-2 participants, phenomenology

includes 3-10 participants, grounded theory has 20-30 participants,

ethnography contains one culture sharing group, and case studies contain five

to six cases. As the research is designed for a descriptive phenomenological

study, the number of research respondents was sufficient.

 8

The researchers used purposive sampling, determining the preselected

criteria relevant to a research question. Purposive sampling is a qualitative

research technique that recruits participants who can provide in-depth and

thorough information about the topic under inquiry (Statistic Solutions, 2022).

The researchers will focus on three (3) types of street vendors: itinerant

street vendors, stationary street vendors, & semi-fixed street vendors. These

three (3) types of street vendors will be the study participants as part of the

criteria for choosing the participants. The researchers chose these kinds of

vendors as they are those vendors who are mostly seen on the streets and

most probably be more affected in the lockdown situation.

The criteria for selecting the research participants include; (1) must be

a resident of Digos City, (2) Must be a street vendor for a minimum of 5 years,

and (3) their monthly income during the pandemic must not exceed 5, 000

pesos. The researchers opted to include years of experience as this could

justify that these street vendors with such long experience in street vending

could differentiate their experiences back in the days when there was no

pandemic. Moreover, the exclusion for choosing a participant will be the

following; (a) a market vendor and; (b) two (2) years or less street vending

experience.

Materials/Instruments

To gather relevant data, the researchers utilized nine (9) interview

questions, divided into three (3) parts, with three (3) questions per part. The

researchers are the ones who made the questions, provided that

professionals validated them. The first part of the questionnaire focused on

 9

the experiences of the street vendors before the pandemic, the next part is

the challenges experienced by the street vendors during the pandemic, and

lastly, the coping strategies they have used in dealing with their challenges.

Since the research participants are not good at English, the researchers made

sure to translate the questions into Bisaya for them to understand during the

interview process.

Design and Procedure

The researchers of this study employed a qualitative research method.

The researchers utilized this method through a face-to-face interview to get an

in-depth understanding of a subject or develop fresh research ideas.

Qualitative research is used to learn about people's perspectives on the world.

While qualitative research has a variety of methodologies, they always

focused on keeping rich meaning when evaluating data (Bhandari, 2020).

The researchers utilized a descriptive-phenomenological approach in

this study. Descriptive phenomenology is particularly useful in regions where

there is little current research and just the research that has been conducted

focused on street vendors (Morrow, Rodriguez & King, 2015). The researcher

opted to use a descriptive phenomenological approach since the study

focused on street vendors' lived experiences during the pandemic. Through

this approach, the researchers gathered relevant data regarding the

challenges experienced by street vendors, their implications, and the public

policies concerning them.

To obtain the appropriate data, the following steps are observed by the

researchers in the process: The researchers first asked for consent from the
 10

school officials to interview a face-to-face method since safety protocols, and

health measures still need to be applied in the interview process. The

researchers believed that face-to-face interviews would be essential in

gathering the data since the research participants are not that illiterate in

using new technology, which the alternative tool in conducting the interview is.

Moreover, it could help them express their sentiments and feelings more if

they can communicate physically with the interviewer. After gaining the

school's consent, the researchers then looked for consenting research

participants who fit in the inclusion mentioned to ask for permission if they are

willing to participate in the study. The researchers accepted recommendations

from friends and relatives who might know some street vendors who are fitted

in the criteria.

After gathering research participants and their consent, the researchers

conducted a face-to-face interview in which they followed the strict

implementation of health protocols to protect research participants. The

interview is recorded, with the participant's consent, for the researchers to

have easy access to writing interview transcripts. When the transcription of

the recordings from the interview is done, the researchers then submitted it to

the research analyst to examine the data and come up with results. After the

data analysis, the researchers formulated results and discussed the

implications and recommendations for the study.

In this research, the researchers utilized thematic analysis in analyzing

the data gathered from the research participants. Thematic analysis is a type

of qualitative data analysis method which involves searching a data set for,

interpreting, and reporting recurring patterns (Braun and Clarke 2006). It is a

 11

way of describing data but also involves interpretation in the selection of

codes and the creation of themes. Thematic analysis is a powerful but flexible

tool for assessing qualitative data that may use a wide range of paradigmatic

or epistemological perspectives.

The thematic analysis includes seven steps: Step 1: The researcher

familiarizes himself with the results by going over the participant accounts

several times. Step 2: Throughout the records, the researcher defines specific

statements that are explicitly pertinent to the phenomenon under examination.

Step 3: The researcher describes significant interpretations of the phenomena

that emerge from a thorough investigation of its connected statements. Step

4: The researcher groups the symbolic meanings discovered into themes that

appear in all of the interviews. Step 5: The researcher compiles a thorough

and comprehensive account of the phenomena, incorporating all of the

themes generated in step 4. Step 6: The researcher condenses the in-depth

investigation into a concise, detailed statement that only includes important

aspects of the phenomenon's retention. In step 7, the researcher addresses

all participants (or a sub-sample in additional studies) with the essential

structure statement to see if something encompasses their perception. They

can change earlier steps in the study based on that information.

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Results

In this section, the researchers present the following findings: Street

Vendors Life before the Pandemic, Street Vendors Life during the Pandemic,

and the Coping Mechanisms used by the Street Vendors of Digos City.

STREET VENDORS’ LIFE BEFORE THE PANDEMIC

This area of the paper examines the qualitative findings of the life of

the street vendors in Digos City before the Covid – 19 pandemic arises. Table

1 showcases the results of the findings derived from interviews of street

vendors showing their experiences before the pandemic: Unrestricted Selling,

Accessibility of Goods and Costumers, Stability of Income, Accessibility of

Goods, and Challenges on weather and Competitors.

Table 1. Data Analysis on Experiences of Street Vendors in Digos City before

the Pandemic

Unrestricted selling

STREET VENDORS’ LIFE BEFORE Accessibility of Goods and Costumers

THE PANDEMIC Stability of Income

Challenges on Weather and

Competitors

Unrestricted selling

Street vendors often are packed and displayed in the streets, which

causes delay and commotion in the street, which is one of the reasons why

they are often pushed away by the government into a more stable and
 13

adaptive location. However, there are testimonies from the respondents

stating that they are very welcome in selling before and that they are not

restricted in selling their goods to the public. They have mentioned that the

government has allowed them to display their products in the streets for an

income and specific rules and obligations. This rule should be under the

public policy where street vendors have to pay a certain amount or tariff in

Digos City, the "arkabala ."A statement from respondent 3 stated that:

Adlaw-adlaw baya mi gabayad ug 20 pesos sa among arkabala. (We

pay our "arkabala" 20 pesos a day.)
This statement of the respondent explains that there were no

restrictions on selling to street vendors before the pandemic. They can freely

display and sell their products in the market as long as they can pay their

"arkabala," which is mandated by the City Economic Enterprise Management

Office (OEM) of Digos City. According to Chen & Carré (2020), most street

vendors pay various taxes and levies, with indirect taxes particularly

burdensome. When street vendors are not registered, they face additional

charges, such as having their merchandise taken. Even street sellers

registered with local authorities or trade organizations face fines for violations

linked to their use of public space. Furthermore, respondent 10, a female

siopao vendor who has been a street vendor for 14 years, states that:

Makapamaligya man ko sa among pwesto diria kilid palengki tapos

daghan man jud tao kay turnohanan man ni, dili jud ko ma zero-han (I
could sell in my stall beside the market thenand since there are a lot of
people since it is where they usually go to ride tricycles, i did not
experience having no income for a day).
The respondent's statement shows that although their lives were not

easy because of their income source, it is not that challenging now that there
 14

is a pandemic. She stated that she was not restricted in selling her goods

(siopao) beside the public market, and there were no days when she had a

zero income. Additionally, respondent 5, an ukay-ukay vendor, also states

that:

10 years nako nga street vendors diria sa Digos pero sukad-sukad

Okay ra man among pangita ato okay pod among panginabuhi atong
wala pa jud tong Covid. Dili parehas karon ba nga galisod jud mi. Mao
jud baya ni among source of income. (I've been a street vendor here in
Digos for ten years. our lives before the pandemic were okay, but since
Covid-19 came into our lives, it changed the situation; it was very hard
for us because it is our source of income.)
People selling food, drinks, and other items in demand by vehicle users

frequently occupy side roads and streets (Neary, 2018). The statements from

Respondent 5, Respondent 10, Respondent 2, and Respondent 3 clear the

idea that there were no restrictions in terms of selling out goods in the street

for as long as they maintain and follow the regulations mandated by the city

government. All respondents for this study have testified explicitly that they do

pay their "arkabala" or tariff religiously. In conclusion, because they are

following specific regulations in terms of "arkabala," and there were still no

restrictions before the pandemic, they are free and unrestricted in selling out

their goods to the public to earn and have income.

Accessibility of Goods& Costumers

Street vendors often offer lesser and affordable prices of goods. They

are also accessible since they can be easily seen in the street as they display

their interests on the sidewalks. Because of this, customers mostly patronize

this kind of seller because of their accessibility and the affordability of goods.

Before the pandemic hit, street vendors were unrestricted in selling on the
 15

sidewalks; followed by specific regulations, they were allowed to display on

the sidewalks to earn money and to be able to provide the accessibility and

affordability of goods to the citizens without the hassle of going inside the

public market or in the mall. Respondent 3 shares her experience in selling

before the pandemic hits; she said that:

Sauna nindot man kay daghan man ug tao. Ang pangita sad namo ato
okay ra man sad kay diria man mi naka pwesto ato sa may atbang sa
national. Bahalag nakakatag ang mga mamaligyaay at least naa ra jud
sa isa ka lugar pod ang mga tao nga mamalit. Makaya rag sustain
among mga panginahanglan atong wala pay pandemya aning among
ukay-ukay jud. (Before, it was nice since there are a lot of people. Our
earnings before was okay since we are located in front of the national
high school. Even if we are scattered in our area, it was okay since we
are still in one place, the costumers have one place to roam around.
We can also sustain the needs of our family before when there is no
pandemic).
Respondent 3 shares imply that due to the accessibility of their location

and the purchase of goods from the customers, they can easily attract

customers and earn more money even though they are packed, and there are

a lot of competitors and other sellers. This statement strengthens the claim of

WEIGO (2014) that street vendors are an essential aspect of the global urban

economy, providing consumers with convenient access to various goods and

services in public spaces. They provide essential services to the urban

population while surviving on their own business, limited resources, and labor.

In this instance, the essence of street vendors can be seen as how they can

provide affordable and accessible basic needs for the people.

Moreover, respondent 1 also testifies that due to the accessibility of his

products to the people as well as his location, he could earn more before the

pandemic. He stated that:

 16

Okay to siya kay wala pa may pandemic. Dili pa siya lockdown.

Makaadto pako sa naay fiesta makapamaligya ko. Tapos diria sa park
daghan ug tao daghan ug halin dili kaayo lisod jud. Mukita ko ug mga
500 sa isa ka adlaw makasigo ra jud. (It was okay since there was no
pandemic, there was no lockdown. I can go to other town and fiestas to
sell. Also, in Rizal park there is a lot of people i can earn a lot which is
why it is not really hard. i could earn at least 500 pesos in a day
before).
In his statement, it is clear that people choose to buy from him because

he can quickly provide access to the product since he is located in the park,

wherein people also spend their leisure time. Due to this, many people buy

from him as people do not need to go to other places to buy food or snacks.

Moreover, he also stated that because there was still no pandemic or

community quarantine, he could quickly go to fiestas and other places to sell

out his product/goods to the people who were in that place, which made it

more accessible to the citizens as the vendor, is the one going to them and

not the other way around.

Street vendors are essential to the world's urban economies,

contributing to a thriving local market and providing a diverse range of

affordable, accessible goods and services to urban consumers (Jaishankar&

Sujatha, 2016). Low-income consumers purchase cooked meals from street

vendors, for example, who cannot afford to eat out. These statements

strengthen the claim of the respondents that their access to goods and

customers made their life easier before when there was no pandemic. They

can provide easy access to products and interests to the general public while

also earning for their family, which is why most people patronize them.

Stability of Income
 17

One of the most occurring answers from the respondents was how

different the income they generated before from the income they have now

that the pandemic has started. According to studies, individuals who work in

the informal sector (e.g., street vending) had significantly higher wages and

assets than those who did not work in the informal sector. Despite being

considered an inconsequential and low-productive sector, the relevance of the

informal sector has been recognized due to its growing contribution to

employment and income generation, particularly in developing nations

(Anders & Sedlmaier, 2016). The respondents have testified that their income

before the pandemic hit them was sustainable for their family, allowing them

to have leisure time and not have financial problems. According to

Respondent 2, a male senior citizen who has been a siopao vendor for 14

years;

aw kato akong pangita atong wala pay pandemic murag mas bintaha
akong income ba. Mas maayo. Katong kita nako sa una mas bintaha to
kay makabuhi ra sa akong pamilya makapalit rakos mga
kinahanglanon sa balay. sauna mukita man sad kong 300 to 500, okay
ra kaayo jud. (our earnings when there was no pandemic were more
nuanced, more okay. My earnings before were fine since it can provide
for my family, I can buy their needs. before, i could earn 300 to 500, it
was very okay before.
Moreover, Respondent 7, a male street food vendor, also stated that

Sauna ok gyud kayo, dako gyud mig ma income, wala sab mi naglisud
labi sa pang adlaw adlaw namo nga mga panginahanglan. Wala man
mi naglisud atong wala pay pandemya kay kada adlaw naa man miy
income igo makasuporta sa among pang adlaw adlaw nga
panginahangalan. (Before, it was very okay. our income was really big.
we also did not struggle specially in terms of our daily needs. It was
okay. We were not that struggling before when there was no pandemic
since we do have our daily income which supports our daily needs.)
In this context, the data reveals that before the pandemic, although

there are some struggles and challenges also encountered by these

 18

respondents, their daily living was good and was sustainable to their family's

needs and other matters. They can easily go out and venture to another

places so that they can have a lot of costumers and their income was enough

provide the needs of their family despite being a vendor. Accordingly, Freire,

Hoornweg, Slack, & Stren (2016) also strengthens the claims that despite the

fact that the weekly profit margin varies, the money collected has enabled

vendors to solve their everyday difficulties such as housing, education, health,

transportation, and food. In spite of that the majority of these vendors are still

impoverished, they understand that their lives are better than those of the

unemployed or civil officials who have been unpaid for months. Additionally,

respondent 9, a female street food vendor testifies that;

Maayo gyud kaayo among panginabuhi ato, wala kaayo mi naglisud

sa among pamilya kay makapalit ug makahatag man mi sa mga gusto
sa among mga anak. Makabayad mi sa mga bayronon namo. Ok gyud
kaayo ang pamuyo namo bisan pobre kay naa man miy saktong
income sa wala pay pandemya. Dako gyud mig income ato day, kay
daghan man mig mga customers. Unya adlaw adlaw naa miy income
dili gyud mi maglisud ato, kay kusog man ang kita. (our business was
good at that time, we did not struggle a lot in our family since we can
buy and give the wants of our children. We can pay our bills. Our living
before was really okay even though were poor since we have a fixed
income bere the pandemic. Our income is also big that time because
we have a lot of costumers then every day we have an income which is
why we really did not struggle because we have a daily income.)
Additionally, respondent 4, a female ukay-ukay vendor for 4 years also

stated that;

okay lang to sauna. Okay ra pod among pangita. Maka sustain ra sa

among pamilya. Ang among income sauna atong wala pay pandemic
muabot ra pod jud siyag 500. Mao ra man sad ni among ginakuhaan sa
among pang adlaw-adlaw nga pangita.(It was okay before. Our income
was also okay. it could sustain our family. Our income before when
there was no pandemic could reach up to 500 pesos a day.This
business is our only source everyday needs.)
 19

These above-mentioned testimonies are the responses of the

respondents as how was their living before when there was no pandemic. It

showcases that because there is no pandemic; their income is stable and can

sustain the needs of their family. These statements affirmed to the statements

of Freire, Hoornweg, Slack, & Stren (2016) and Anders & Sedlmaier (2016)

that even if the lives of these street vendors are not like the same as those

who belong in the formal sector, they are still putting bread in the table and

their income can sustain the needs of their family. This only justifies the

theme, stability of income, that without the pandemic, the income of the street

vendors in Digos City is stable and can sustain their family needs.

Challenges on weather and competitors

Back when there was no pandemic, one of the biggest problem faced

by the street vendors was the weather. It affects them deeply as they are

located on the sidewalk with no roof or canopy protecting them and their

products from getting wet and would sometimes result for their goods to be

damaged. Whilst getting caught up through the rain during commuting is

inconvenient, consider others whose livelihoods are dependent on good

weather. For the street vendors, the rainy season has been both unpleasant

and unprofitable (Muong & Sunjolinet, 2016). According to respondents, the

most common struggles they are facing even before the pandemic was the

issues concerning the weather, specifically when it rains. The following is the

Respondent 3 statement, which is a female ukay-ukay vendor and is largely

affected especially when there are rain as their products could get soak to the

rain:
 20

ang pinaka dako jud namong problema atong wala pay pandemic
kanang mag ulan magtrapal mi, dugay kaayo mi makalihok, mabasa
among mga ukay-ukay, mabasa mi. pag mabasa, amoa nasad ning
ibulad. Sauna pod makatesting mi nga dili sila mamalit lagi sa amoang
mga baligya kay mas ganahan man sila didtoa sa mall. Dili sila mamalit
diria sa amoa. (the biggest challenges when there was no pandemic
was when it rains. when it is raining, we usually use "trapal", if we are
not fast enough, then our ukay-ukay will be soaked in the rain, if it gets
wet, then we have to hang it under the sun. we have also tried before
when costumers do not want to buy from us since they want to buy in
the mall, they do not like to buy from ukay. )
In terms of the lack of infrastructure, long working hours, ambient air

pollution, and a lack of health and hygiene awareness for the activities in

which they engage, informal street vendors confront a number of other issues.

It appears that street sellers work more than 8 hours per day, seven days a

week, and throughout the year (Wong,Chan, & Ngan, 2019). With this kind of

work hours, street vendors may be exposed to a variety of climate-related

hazards at work, including extreme heat, flooding, pollution, and drought.

Many informal laborers endure serious health problems due to a lack of clean

water, sanitation, and hygiene, as well as occupational hazards such as

injuries and unsafe working conditions (Sverdlik, 2021).

Another testimonies from Respondent 1 and Respondent 5 which

shows how hard it is for the street vendors during the rainy season:

Respondent 1 stated, ang pinaka problema lang jud namo ato sa una
kay kanang ulan ulan. Diraa lisod man gud kay walay mamalit kay
walay mag laag-laag diria sa park edi walay halin. (our biggest problem
before is when it is raining. during that time it is really hard because
there is no costumer since no one is strolling around the park i dont
have any earning.)
Also, Respondent 5 testifies that, Mag ulan ra man jud among
problema ato. Pinaka problema jud namo ato kay lisod kaayo og mag
ulan kay dili lalim mag hipos unya wala pa kay halin. (The rain/weather
is our main problem before, because it is very hard for us to pack up
things and clean even without a sale.)
 21

The majority of street vendors work long hours without enough

relaxation and are exposed to severe weather due to a lack of urban

amenities. Due to inconvenient retailing arrangements and extra peripherals,

the weather has taken a toll on the products offered, especially if they are

edible. Uncertainty about site allocation makes it difficult for street sellers to

move their carts from one area to another on damaged roads. Lacks of shelter

and storage space are also issues for street vendors (Panwar & Garg, 2015).

On the other hand, street vendors also suffer way back before the

pandemic with the issues concerning competitors along their locations as it

clearly affects their income and their status in the market. Respondent 8

states that:

parehas ra gud sa uban guro day uy usahay hina ang kita kay daghan
naman sad kog kompetensiya. (It was the same like other people.
Sometimes our income is low because we have a lot of competitors.)

Moreover, Respondent 5, an ukay-ukay street vendor, also testifies

how costumers tend to choose buying from the mall or buying food rather than

buying from them:

Maskin gud ingon nga mas naglisod mi karon pero naa ragud miy
kalisod gihapon nga kaagian sa una parehas anang ang mga tao dili
baya jud permi tigpalitan sa amoa kay mas pilion man nila mamalit
nalang ug mga pagkaon diraa nga linya ra sad baya namo unya
usahay sad mas pilion nila nga sa mall nalang mamalit.Dili jud permi
among halin sauna gihapon. lisod pod jud kaayo basta ulan. Mao jud
among kontra sauna kanang panahon. (Even though we are more
challenged now, we still experienced struggles before for example
some does not want to buy from us since they prefer food which is
displayed in line and sometimes they prefer going to mall and buy
there. Our income before is still not steady. It was also very hard when
it rains since it was also our constant enemy, the weather.)
 22

One key issue with street vending is severe rivalry from businesses or

people with permanent shops or premises. Typically, street sellers work under

tough conditions. For example, they lack permanent structures and are hence

vulnerable to weather changes (Arsene, Lebon, Maurice, Benjamin, Faustin,

& Jean-Hélène, 2020). Despite the severe conditions and competition from

businesses with permanent facilities, street vending is nevertheless a

profitable industry which is why despite the hardships that these respondents

have faced, according to their statements, they still thrived to continue to sell

their goods in the street.

STREET VENDORS’ LIFE DURING THE PANDEMIC

This area of the paper examines the qualitative findings of the life of

the street vendors in Digos City during and after the Covid – 19 pandemic

arises. Figure 2 showcases the results of the findings derived from interviews

of the street vendors showing their experiences before the pandemic namely:

Loss of costumers; Unstable Income, Restrictions during Pandemic, and

Good’s Discrimination.

Table 2. Data Analysis on Experiences of Street Vendors in Digos City during

the Pandemic

Loss of costumers
STREET VENDORS’ LIFE DURING
Unstable Income
THE PANDEMIC Restrictions during Pandemic
Goods’ discrimination
Loss of costumers
 23

Due to the pandemic arising all over the world and the government has

provided measures in order to mitigate the transmission of virus, the

government halted public transportation, shut down all offices and

businesses, and closed schools. Sales were drastically down since the

majority of the populace was forced to isolate themselves at home.

Furthermore, the lack of public transportation meant that they had to walk for

hours each day from their homes to the selling location. Individuals were

supposed to leave their house unless absolutely essential and only with

quarantine pass (Leyesa & Flores-Obanil, 2021). This mandate from the

government have greatly affected the street vendors not just because they

also cannot go out of their homes but especially because these street vendors

depend on foot traffic and civilians to buy from them and even if they are

allowed to sell, they do not have costumers. A statement from Respondent 2

stating how hard it is to sell when there are not a lot of people buying from;

Nausab jud gang uy kay nawad-an man kog pangita ato gang kay
balhin-balhin ang pwesto ato gang wala namay mga tao mamalit
nakatag naman sila. Wala namay mag adto-adto diria sa may park. (It
was changed because I no longer have a place to sell because the
people are scatterd and was changing locations so I do not have a
costumer since then because people no longer go to Rizal Park.)
Furthermore, Respondent 6 also strengthens this claim saying,

Wala jud intawon miy halin ato kay lagi bawal unya kato sad nga
gesugtan namig pamaligya, wala man pod kaayoy mamalit. lisod jud
siya oy. (We really did not have an earning because it was not allowed
to sell but when we were allowed to sell, there were also no costumers.
It was hard).
Gone are the days when markets could accommodate as many

customers as they desired in a tiny area. Prior to COVID-19, people had no

trouble sitting near to one another. However, the current scenario has altered
 24

social rules of interaction. World Health Organization (WHO) stated that social

distancing necessitates a minimum space between individuals. In order to

straighten the infection curve and reduce the number of infected cases, social

distance is critical (Kim, Kim & Wang, 2020). The government may also need

to rearrange workstations and require the marking of spots where people can

go to maintain social distance as well as the avoidance of foot traffic in order

to adhere to social distancing regulations, which affects street vendor revenue

because there are few customers due to the regulations.

Respondent 3 testifies that, "Mingaw kaayo. Dili mi kapamaligya.

Nakapamaligya mi ato kadiyot bisan sugod sa pandemic pero usahay
lagi wala gihapoy mamalit. Manguli mi ato nga walay halin. (The sale
was very low that time. No one buys because there were no
costumers. we tried to sell for a bit during the start of pandemic, but
still, no one buys from us. we go home without having an earning.)"
According to Respondent 5, she stated that "Didtoa sa bataan mi
gepwesto lisod man gihapon kaayo kay nahatagan lagi mig pwesto
wala man say mamalit kay layo unya ang mga tao naa man diria sa
palengki. Kato pong naa mi diraa sa business center lisod ra gihapon
kay dili man mi makapahimutang kay puno kaayo pulihanay ug pwesto
karong adlawa naay halin, sunod adlaw wala. lisod kaayo. (When we
were moved to bataan, it was still hard because even though we were
given a place to display, we do not have costumers since it was so far
when the costumers are here in the market. When we were there in the
business center, it was also hard since we were still not stable because
there are many of us and the area were so packed up which is why we
did the alternating of stall. Today you have an income, tomorrow you
have none. it was really hard)."
These above-mentioned testimonies have just clearly explained how

the loss of customers greatly affected the lives of these street vendors.

Accordingly, the mandate to stay at home has also contributed to these

problems. Having no customers have resulted to loss in revenue for the street

vendors. Although the street vendors know that what the government was

doing was for the betterment of everyone, they cannot help but still feel

relentless as they have lost their source of income.

 25

Unstable Income

As the street vendors struggle with their loss of customers during the

pandemic, it will result in them having unstable income during the pandemic.

With cities deserted or shut down, street vendors claim that if they can't work,

their families will starve to death. Many street vendors voiced concern that

they would be unable to feed their families during the lockout, potentially

leading to hunger. The impact on the informal economy will be significant.

According to the ILO, COVID-19 might result in the loss of 195 million jobs,

such as garbage recyclers, street sellers, and domestic employees (WEIGO,

2020). All of the research respondents have testified that because of the

pandemic and the lockdown that comes with it, their business has gone into

turmoil;

According to Respondent 1, "Lisod jud kaayo to gang. Katong

pagsugod na sa lockdown didto na naghinay-hinay nga ni hinay ang
halin. (It was very hard. The hardest was when it was the start of the
lockdown when our earning have slowly decreases.)"
Moreover, Respondent 3 also testifies that "Mingaw kaayo. Dili mi
kapamaligya. Nakapamaligya mi ato kadiyot bisan sugod sa pandemic
pero usahay lagi wala gihapoy mamalit. Manguli mi ato nga walay
halin. (The sale was very low that time. No one buys because there
were no costumers. We tried to sell for a bit during the start of
pandemic, but still, no one buys from us. We go home without having
an earning.)"
Several of the legislation and policies enacted in reaction to COVID-19

hampered informal sellers, whose livelihood is based on access to public

space and social interaction. Due to curfews limiting their days at work,

restricted foot and vehicular traffic, and limited public transportation, their

revenue declined (Reliefweb 2020).

 26

Congruent with Respondent 5, she stated that "Wala na jud mi ato.

Namatay na among negosyo. Wala man mi tuguti ato og pamaligya
kay ge demolish man mi. Wala miy tarong nga pwesto. Wala man jud
mi nakapamaligya gud ato og tarong. (We really have nothing that
time. Our business died. We were not allowed to sell since we were
demolished. We do not have a stable location. We really did not
operate properly during that time)".
Respondent 6 also testifies that "Atong nag lockdown jud nga pila jud
ka bulan nga wala jud mi gesugtan ug pagpamaligya. Wala jud intawon
miy halin ato kay lagi bawal unya kato sad nga gesugtan namig
pamaligya, wala man pod kaayoy mamalit. Lisod jud siya oy. (When
the lockdown comes, those months when we were not allowed to vend
our products, we really did not have an earning because it was not
allowed to sell and because there were not a lot of costumers. It was
really hard)".
In agreement with the previous testimonies, Respondent 9 states that
"Lisud gyud kaayo ang among kahimtang halos wala miy makuot. Unya
walay income dili maka paninda kay bawal. Mao nga lisud gyud kaayo.
(Our situation was very hard. We don't have money to use because it
was all used up. We don't have income since we are not allowed to
display. It was very hard)".
Street vending is a straightforward technique for low-income people to

create money with little funds. However, street vendors confront substantial

obstacles and instability during the pandemic as informal laborers (Martinez,

Young, Trofimoff, Valencia, Vidal, Espada, & Robles, 2022). Their income has

been completely different from what they are having before the pandemic.

Moreover, the pandemic also contributed to them having unstable income

since there are times wherein they can sell and also there are times where

they cannot which is a big deal for street vendors as they are dependent on

daily income, not like those from the formal economy who have monthly

wages and can work from home, these street vendors rely on customers and

foot traffic in order to obtain more income.

Subsequently, Respondent 4 also states that "Ang pang adlaw-adlaw

jud nga income ang pinaka nausab ato. Mas nigamay jud to kay sauna
nga wala pay pandemic kay makakita ra man gihapon jud kag
costumer naa pa may tao ato (manglaag) (The biggest change was our
 27

daily income. it really decreases because before when there was no

pandemic, i can still look for costumer because there are still people
roaming around)".
These street vendors belonging in the informal sector depends on their

daily income as a tool to provide for their family. Without their daily income or

daily vending, they cannot have money to support for their family. During both

the lockdown and unlock periods, the pandemic had a substantial influence on

street vendors' livelihoods and revenues, which was ascribed to a decrease in

sales, distress selling at lower prices, and a reduced opportunity for daily

wage laboring. The lockdown and accompanying mobility restrictions have

created significant economic stress, with negative consequences for financial

security and hunger, with populations already vulnerable to poverty being

disproportionately affected (Laborde, Martin & Ros, 2020). Two-thirds of the

world's poor, including but not limited to street sellers who rely on mobility for

both revenue and household food supply, are among the worst affected

(Castaneda, Newhouse, Nguyen, Uematsu, & Azevedo, 2016). A statement

from Respondent 1 stating how his income was changed because of the

pandemic;

Dako kaayong kausaban gang oy. Sa karon nga pandemic nausab

among pangita. Katong pagsugod na sa lockdown didto na naghinay-
hinay nga ni hinay ang halin. Dili makaya ng 200 kadaadlaw ra nga
kita. Nausab among kinabuhi sigeg adjust kay dili man kayahon sa kita
namo. mao ra baya intawon niy ginakuhaan namo ug pang-adlaw
adlaw nga pangwarta. (It was a big change. It was when the pandemic
happened wher eour earnings change. The hardest was when it was
the start of the lockdown when our earning have slowly decreases. We
cannot reach 200 peso earnings a day. This work is our only source of
income where we get our daily expenses)
Accordingly, Respondent 2 also states that "Nausab jud gang uy kay
nawad-an man kog pangita ato gang.. Kulang na kaayo akong halin.
Muhalin nalang gud kog 150 sa isa ka adlaw unya dili man na sa
sugakod intawon gang uy. (It was changed because I no longer have a
 28

place to sell my earnings cannot suffice. I could only income 150 pesos
in a day during that time and it can really not suffice.)"
Global lockdowns have thrown the world's two billion informal laborers

into chaos — and street sellers, whose livelihoods rely on being in public

locations, have been particularly severely struck. Some cities and countries

have permitted trading, but vendors have had to make significant changes to

their job and personal lives. Street sellers claimed a 90% loss in income

owing to lower foot traffic in places where they are permitted to peddle

(WEIGO, 2020). The statement from Castaneda, Newhouse, Nguyen,

Uematsu & Azevedo (2016) pertaining to street vendors depending on

mobility for revenue/income only strengthens the claims of the participants

that due to the pandemic and the restrictions in mobility, they could not have a

stable income to provide for their needs. When one of the most noticeable

effects of the pandemic was a decrease in family net income, which reduced

their ability to purchase necessities like food, the situation gets worse

(Laborde, Martin, Swinnen, & Vos, 2020). These are one of the effects of the

pandemic to the street sellers as to how their income and their lives have

changed when it have hit them.

Restrictions during Pandemic

The coronavirus has caused unprecedented closures across the

country and around the world. Policy mandates, downward demand

movements, health concerns, and other issues have forced stores, factories,

and many other small businesses to close. Small business, such as street

vending, may have suffered greater revenue losses than large businesses

during the start of the COVID-19 problem. When the pandemic struck, street
 29

vendors were likely less able to adapt swiftly to changes in legislation and

demand. To halt the spread of COVID-19, governments implemented social

distancing measures, which included the closure of enterprises in "non-

essential" vocations and industries, as well as restrictions on food services

and drinking establishments. From a policy standpoint, it's critical to know how

binding the obligatory lockdown is for the street vendors (Fairlie & Fossen,

2022).

According to Respondent 6 "Dako jung changes oy kay dili baya jud

makagawas-gawas ato dayon og wala kay mapakitang mga papeles
nga kinahanglan nila. Tong CCTS unya tong quarantine pass. (There
were really big changes happened since you cannot go out if you do
not have the papers they needed. the CCTS and the quarantine pass)"
This testimony from the respondent states that street vendors during

the peak of the pandemic cannot easily move and sell out their products in the

street as it is restricted by the government. Due to the COVID-19 viral

pandemic, all countries throughout the world implemented curfews in 2020.

Lockdowns can restrict mobility or activity in a town while allowing most

organizations to operate normally, or they might restrict movement or activity

to only those organizations that provide fundamental needs and services

(Wang, Cheng, Yue, & McAleer, 2020). Experts have warned that imposing

strict lockdowns and curfews will continue to endanger the lives of millions of

people (McKibbin & Fernando, 2020). The respondents have vent out their

remarks on how difficult it is because of the curfew hours, limiting their hours

of selling and earning.

According to Respondent 4, "Alas 3 mi mamaligya unya curfew alas 5,

2 ra ka oras maka display tapos muulan pa jud, wala pa kay halin.
Astang lisoda jud oy. (We can display at 3PM then the curfew is at
5PM, we only have 2 hours to sell then it will rain. It is really hard.)"
 30

The decrease in total hours provides an indication of the pandemic's

overall impact on income (OECD, 2020). Because the selling time is limited

for the street vendors, their income has been very low. Many countries around

the world have curfew systems, however many of them have issues such as

instability, floundering, not satisfying people's needs, and inefficient in

preventing people from crowding out to stop the virus from spreading (Board

2020) & (Koh, 2020). The street vendors know the very reason for this curfew

was for their betterment, however, they also knew that this curfew has put

them into more drastic problems than others.

Together with the mobility restrictions and curfew hours, the

government has also mandated those people who are 60 years old and above

(senior citizens), those with comorbidities problems, and underage children

who are 18 years old and below, are strictly not allowed to go out of their

home as they are considered as high risk. Although people of all ages are

susceptible to COVID-19, older people are more likely to become very ill if

they contract it due to physiological changes brought on by aging and possibly

underlying medical conditions (WHO, 2020). Statements from Respondent 2

and Respondent 10, a married couple, who are both siopao street vendor for

14 years, they stated that;

Respondent 2 stated that "ay lisod jud kaayo maam kay kuan gud 2
gud ka tuig tong pandemic. Na istambay jud kog 1 ka tuig ato maam
kay dakpon man ko kay senior naman ko. 6 7 years old naman
ko.Unya katong sugod pa jud sa pandemic dili mi pagawason kay
senior maong naglisod jud. Mao ra jud intawon niy ginakuhaan namog
pangkunsomo sa adlaw-adlaw. (It was very hard since the pandemic
took 2 years. I was inactive for a year since i could get arrested
because I am a senior citizen. I am 67 years old. When the pandemic
was barely starting, we were not allowed to go out which is why it was
very hard since selling was our source of food/expenses in our
everyday living)"
 31

Meanwhile, Respondent 10 also testifies that "ay galisod jud mi ato

day, labaw nami ni tatay nimo. Kami napuro senior citizen, dili
makapamaligya kay lagi bawal pagawson kay tiguwang na. kasabot
gud mi nga para man na sa among kaayohan pero unsaon man gud
tawon namo among pagkaon ug wala miy pangita. maghilak intawon
ko ato bago matulog day kay unsaon man namong duha ni tatay nimo
ug mahurot na tanan hinatag. (We really struggled that time, specially
me and my husband. We are both senior citizen, we cannot sell since
we are not allowed to go out becuase were old. We can understand
that it is for our betterment but what can we do we have our needs and
we do not have a source of income. I do cry before i go to sleep during
that time because i am thinking what we will do if the reliefs run out.)"

There are a lot of struggles experienced by the street vendors because

of the restrictions imposed by the government. Accordingly, the statement of

(Board 2020) & (Koh, 2020) stating that there are a lot of negative impacts of

the curfew mandate of the government such as instability of income for the

street vendors, floundering and not satisfying people's needs as not all street

vendors were able to obtain the assistance given by the government.

Restrictions do have a lot of good reasons to be implemented, but the people

who were experiencing from it is also suffering from it.

On the other hand, with the mobility restrictions imposed to the street

vendors, apparently, they have also faced restrictions with regards to their

location. The government has made new modifications to market place

locations in order to comply with social distancing rules. A few sellers have

complained that they have moved to non-market public areas (such as a side

street with few passing traffic), which has resulted in fewer consumers (The

Business Standard, 2020). Because of the mandate with regards to social

distancing, the government has imposed to change the locations of several

vendors in order to mitigate the spreading of the virus. However, these

changes in locations have also affected the street vendors as the location
 32

where they are moved into has little to no customers due to the restrictions

and distance from the market. Respondent 3 clearly states her experience

with this matter, saying

Katong gepapahawa mi gang. Bisan asa ra mi ipasa-pasa. Didtoa sa

corregidor wala jud miy halin. Didtoa astang ngit-ngita geputlan mi ug
suga unya daghan kaayog mga lamok, kami pay nanglimpyo didtoa
para adtoon pod mi sa mga tao pero wala jud gihapon mamalit. Unya
nihangyo man mi kay wala lagi jud miy halin didtoa. Gepabalhin mi
diraa atbang sa business center. getunga mi. karong adlawa maninda
ka, sunod adlaw dili nasad. pulihanay lang. (Our biggest challenge
during that time is) when we were oust away. we are usually moved
from different locations every time. When we were moved in the
Corregidor, we really have no earnings. When we are there, it is very
dark, the electricity was cut and there are a lot of mosquitos, we still
have to clean the area in order to attract people to buy but still it did not
work. We ask to be move again since we really do not have income
there (Corregidor), which is why we are moved again to the in front of
the business center. We're divided. This day you will display your
items, and then the next day, you cannot because it is others turn to
sell.)
This was seconded by Respondent 5 stating that

Namatay na among negosyo. Wala man mi tuguti ato og pamaligya

kay ge demolish man mi. Maskin didtoa sa bataan mi gepwesto lisod
man gihapon kaayo kay nahatagan lagi mig pwesto wala man say
mamalit kay layo unya ang mga tao naa man diria sa palengki. (Our
business died. We were not allowed to sell since we were demolished.
We do not have a stable location. Even when we were moved to
bataan, it was still hard because even though we were given a place to
display, we do not have costumers since it was so far when the
costumers are here in the market.)
These two testimonies signify how hard it is to be ousted in your

location over and over again and they cannot do anything about it because

these street vendors do not want to go fight the government. While licensed

vendors have a legal relationship with local governments and public officials,

unlicensed vendors work in risky situations, trying to avoid being ejected from

public spaces (Cuvi, 2016). Vendors do not really feel secure or protected

since they are commonly hounded by local officials and frequently have to pay
 33

bribes and tariffs to survive on the streets (Rehman, Mahmood, Ibtasam,

Murtaza, Iqbal, & Molnár, 2021). Street vendors are not like licensed

businesses wherein they cannot be ousted in just a matter of time, these

street vendors, although they are paying their "arkabala" or rent can be easily

removed and ejected from their post as to what the government says.

Accordingly, Respondent 2 also states how hard it is to be restricted in

some locations which resulted to change into another location which in turn

would make one lost income and customers;

Kaagi sad na namong gepapahawa mi oy. Katong gipapahawa mi sa

DPWH kay nasuko man sila kay dalan lagi unya gobyerno man sila
sunod lang mi kay naglikay ra man pod na sila sa disgrasya kay
highway lagi. Gepabalhin sa mi didtoa sa may National Hospital dapit
unya reklamo man sad ang taga hospital kay lagi ang ambulansya, di
karon ang nagbadlong sa amoa kay ang DILG najud maong nawala
nami. Gihatagan ming Mayor didtoa sa night market sa may Bataan
pero mingaw kaayo didtoa maam oy. Isa ka semana ra mi maam
nangundang sad mi kay mingaw man. Sukad ato wala najud ko
kapaninda kay nakatag naman ang mga tao tapos wala nakoy pwesto.
(We have also expereinced being oust, many times. We were also
ousted by the DPWH since they were angry because we are selling in
the highways; they are the government so we have to follow them
since they only want us not to be harm. We were also moved near the
national hospital, but there are still complains because we are in
disturbance for the ambulance. It was when the DILG was the one who
scolded us, so we moved again. The city mayor has offered us a place
in lapu-lapu bataan, in the night market but it is very sluggish since
there is not a lot of people going there. It was only a week before i
stopped selling there. Since then, i no longer sell since the people are
scattered and i no longer have a stable location to sell.)
While preventing the spread of the outbreak is critical, restricting the

mobility of vendors damages poor people's livelihoods and puts their lives in

jeopardy. Cash and Patel (2020) suggest that such tactics are inappropriate

for low-income nations. It is apparent that the current lockdown is

exacerbating existing structural inequities without enough social support.

Although the government is just doing its job for these street vendors, the
 34

rights and equality they deserve are not brought up to them due to these

mandates, which also causes them to fail more in providing for their family.

What these street vendors wanted was to have a concrete and stable location

that would enable them to have a clear stall to display their goods and sell,

which in turn would help in increasing their income.

Goods discrimination

According to Verdú, Millán, Saavedra, Iruzubieta & Sanjuán (2021) for

years, street vendors have faced discrimination in their own community. It is

written in human history and follows everyone into the future. There is no

doubt that discrimination existed prior to the pandemic, but it is also clear that

the pandemic shifted the focus and shed light on concerns that had previously

gone unnoticed in the mainstream, especially towards the discriminations

experienced by the street vendors in their daily lives. Street vendors are

frequently labeled as a "nuisance" or a "menace," whose source of

nourishment is not worth sharing a public space with. Objections about the

quality of their wares or the fact that they cause traffic disruptions frequently

come second to the fundamental concern that street vendors are "dirtying the

streets" with their public displays (Mathew, 2015). Street vendors have been

facing several accusations with regards their existence in the society. They

were always branded as nuisance and harmful as their products are not

clean. Respondent 8 shares her experience with regards to this kind of

discrimination, stating;

Usahay sad mapangutan-an kag limpyo ba daw na imong baligya,

masakitan gud ko pero wala man tay mahimo kay mao man jud na
ilang panan-aw sa amoa kay lagi naa ra mi diria sa daplin-daplin
namaligya dili parehas sa uban nga nakapwesto jud. Sabay-sabayan
 35

nalang nakog storya bahalag makainsulto gud jud.(Sometimes we are

ask if our products (food) are clean, I am hurt by that but I cannot do
anything since because that is their view on us just because we are
here in the streets selling not like others that do rent a place. I just go
with the flow and talk even though i felt insulted.)
Over 2.5 billion people eat street food every day, sustaining the

livelihoods of millions of low-income people and making a considerable

economic contribution. Many people in developing countries find street food to

be a handy diet. Street food, on the other hand, constitutes a weak link in food

safety supervision and has long been a subject of scholarly investigation. In

addition to being convenient for many consumers, street food also offers

millions of low-income people with a source of income and considerably

boosts the economies of many developing nations (Ning, 2017). However,

there has been controversy over the cleanliness of their products.

Additionally, Digos City has a lot of ukay-ukay vendors all over the

public market. The selling of ukay-ukay was prevalent a long time ago as

people prefer low price items. With lockdowns and quarantines in place, as

well as social distancing and cleanliness protocols, potential consumers,

whether in ukay-ukay booths or luxury shops, may be unable to physically

purchase clothes. A fresh debate arises as to whether the ukay-ukay is still

sustainable, according to sustainable fashion theory, in times of global health

crisis. Moreover, health concerns are the primary reason why commercial

importation of secondhand clothes (ukay-ukay) is outlawed (Biana, 2020). A

statement from one of the ukay-ukay respondent of study expresses how they

faced discrimination on the cleanliness of their products on the peak of the

pandemic, she stated that

 36

Katong sugod pa sa pandemic dili mamalit ang mga tao sa amoa kay
lagi ukay-ukay daghan tao nakasuot, nakagunit, naa daw Covid among
mga baligya maong labaw ng walay halin. Ug naa pa untay Covid ni
gang mauna unta mi no kay kami may mouna ug abri ani. naa pay
ingon nila gikan daw sa China. Maong naa jud daw Covid unya hugaw
daw. (During the start of pandemic, people do not want to buy from us
because they think that ukay-ukay have a lot of dirt in it, that a lot of
people have worn it and touch it. they say that our products have Covid
which usually costs us to have no earnings because of these
speculations. if our products really have Covid, we are the first to have
it since we are the first to see and open this. They also say that our
ukay came from China which is why it has Covid and it is dirty.)
Street vendors have been experiencing not just financial problems and

restrictions but also discrimination from their customers stating how dirty and

harmful their products are. It is an insult for these street vendors who have

nothing to say but smile as they know that those are customers and they need

an income to provide for their family, even if they are blatantly insulted and

discriminated.

COPING MECHANISMS USED BY STREET VENDORS DURING THE

PANDEMIC

This area of the paper examines the coping mechanisms of street

vendors in Digos City during and after the Covid – 19 pandemic. Table 3

showcases the results of the findings derived from interviews of the street

vendors showing their coping mechanisms of street vendors during the

pandemic, namely: Part-Time Job; Alternative Selling Techniques;

Government Assistance such as Social Amelioration Program (SAP), Cash

Assistance & Food Assistance.

Table 2. Data Analysis on Experiences of Street Vendors in Digos City during

the Pandemic
 37

Coping Mechanisms used by Street Part-Time Job

Vendors during the Pandemic Alternative Selling Techniques

Government Assistance

Part-Time Job

The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst health disaster the world has

seen in a century, and it has the potential to be one of the biggest job-killers

ever. That is significant: when individuals are deprived of their jobs, they lose

not only their income but also their dignity, significance, and hope. There is a

substantial risk that job losses will disproportionately affect those who can

least afford it, such as low-wage individuals and small businesses like street

vendors (Fine, Klier, Mahajan, Raabe, Schubert & Singh, 2020). Due to losing

their source of income, street vendors have altered and venge into different

source of income or job. The following respondents have shared their

experiences;

Respondent 1 states "Nag labor nalang ko sa amoang dapit gang.

Usahay ug naay isugo akong mga silingan nga ipapalit diria sa Digos
kay taga Sta Cruz man ko, ako nalang mupalit para naa pod koy ma
akoa kay hatag-hatagan man sad ko nila isip pamilite. Mao ra jud na
dang kanang ginagmay nga hatag-hatag og trabaho para lang
makasugakod atong lockdown. (I tried being a labor in our area.
Sometimes, my neighbors have something to buy in digos, since we
are living in sta. Cruz, I will buy it for them in return they will pay as a
fare. And I also receive some goods and other small work in order to
survive the lockdown) "
Respondent 3 also testifies how her husband change jobs in order to
provide for the family as street vending is their main source of income
before the pandemic. She stated "Akong bana lang mangonstruction.
Ako sa balay. Usahay kulang pa ang sweldo sa cosntruction sa mga
panginahanglanon. Bisan asa mangonstruction akong bana para naa
miy kita. Mag kuan og mga balay-balay amg labor. Gamay ra baya ng
labor 200 ra ang adlaw. (My husband goes to construction while i am at
home. My husband's income is not enough for our needs. My husband
look for different places where there is in need for construction so that
 38

we could have an income. He sometimes does house work labor. The

salary/payment for labor is just 200 pesos in a day. )"
Finally, Respondent 6 shares her experience on how they have to
change their job in order to survive the pandemic; "Nangita intawon jud
ug pamaagi para lang makalingkawas sa kalisod aotng panahona.
Nanaligya mig saging ginanggang ug pinirito didtoa sa may terminal
kay doul ra man mi sa terminal. Unya usahay magbarbeque sad mi ug
dako-dako ang halin namo sa pagpamaligya ug saging. akoa sang
mga anak nakasulod sa trabaho maong naka dugang-dugang sad sa
amoang kwarta. (We look for alternatives in order to survive that time.
We sell banana near the terminal because our house was located near
there. The sometimes if we have extra or we collected enough in
selling bananas, we also sell barbeques. My children also have jobs
which also helps.)"
Fear of infection, public guidelines, and widespread uncertainty caused

a significant reduction in economic activity and disrupted global value chains,

resulting in a deep and broad shock to the labor market. Furthermore, state-

imposed lockdowns and business closures have had severe consequences,

with millions of workers in various nations enduring a diminution or entire loss

of their livelihoods (OECD. 2021). Therefore, the street vendors opted to

choose another platform of revenue in order to survive the financial

challenges brought upon the pandemic. They have altered their long

dependency on their street vending as it is not viable as of the restrictions

made.

Alternative Selling Techniques

Since the globe continues to grapple with COVID-19, it is critical to

consider what the post-COVID world will entail for those of us in the digital

marketing realm. The pandemic has accelerated the rate at which we are

"moving digital," giving many online enterprises tremendous leverage

(Gavrila& Ancillo, 2021). The street vendors have been restricted in going out

in the streets and selling their products, thus, they resulted to changing their
 39

platform, from selling in the streets into selling in the online platform such as

Facebook. Respondents share their experiences in altering their platform of

selling;

According to Respondent 7, he stated that "Mangita nalang jud mig

laing pamaagi para lang makasurvive ato. Nag online selling mi ato
tapos amoang ihatod sa ilaha. Murag nahulog nga food delivery
services nalang sa kay mao man sad among baligya atong wala pay
pandemic. (We look for other alternatives in order to survive during that
time. We tried online selling then we will deliver their requests at their
home. It was like a food delivery services since that were what we are
selling during the pandemic.)"
Respondent 9 also testifies "Diskarte mi makasuroy sa baligya namo,
ug naay order sa online namo akoa ra pud ihatud ginagmay ra pero
mayo na lang nakatabang bisan gamay. Unya nagtipid na gyud mi naa
may gamay tigom gitipid gyud namo ug sakto para dili mahutdan kay
lisud kayo way pagkaon mapasmo akong pamilya. Tinabangay ra jud
mi tibook pamilya ato. (We find ways to sell our products. if there is an
order online, we try to deliver it to them. it may be little but it could help
since we also have some savings, we tried to use it right so that it will
not run out because it will be hard to not have food, my family will go
hungry. We just help each other as a family during that time.)"
Furthermore, the street vendors who did not use the online platform in

order to have alternative selling techniques have opted to sell their products in

their neighborhood by roaming around. The following respondents share their

experiences on them selling their products in their neighborhood;

Respondent 8 testifies that "Nag display mi sa among balay para naay

gamay nga kita, pero naga follow mi ug safety protocol. Naa man koy
natigom gamay mao to akong giankuot para sa pang adlaw adlaw
namo nga gastohonon. Pero dili ra jud parehas sa una gang uy nga
dako ang kita pero atleast ato naay makita kaysa wala jud. (I tried
displaying in front of our house so that i coudl have a little income but
we follow safety protocols. I also have some savings which i used for
our daily expenses.But it was not like before that my income was big
but at least i have something than really nothing.)"
Respondent 4 shares her experience in how she sells her products
"Ginadala nako ni akong mga tinda mag libot-libot ko didtoa sa amoa
dapit mamaligya ko para naay gagmayng halin pampalit lang ug bugas.
Katong alternate mi sa ukay-ukay kay magluto-luto nalang kog pansit
canton mga biscuit kay dili man jud ka ma zero-han anang pagkaon
 40

kay naa may joy mamalit og mangaon. (I bring my products and i roam
around our neighborhood selling it in order to have some income to buy
rice. When we were alternating, I also sell biscuits and pansit canton in
my stall because you can never be zero in food selling because there
will always be people who wants to eat)."
Finally, Respondent 5 testifies "Kato ra mag baligya-baligya sa among
dapit managinot sa ginangmayng baligya may nalang naa kaysa wala
miy kaunon. Usahay mag display sad mi sa among tugkaran or
maglibot-libot ana lang jud. makahalin mig mga gatos-gatos makapalit
mig kan-onon. (Just like that, I vend my products in our place, trying my
luck since if I dont sell, we will have nothing to eat. Sometimes, we
display in front of our house or roamed around. If we have some
income, we can buy food.)"
It is evident in the Filipino culture that they are considered as resilient

people who stand even if their grounds have been shaken with a lot of

problems and struggles faced. These testimonies from the respondents show

how they come up with such struggles faced during the pandemic and how

they thrived to survive in doing some alternative sources of income in order to

provide not just for themselves but especially for their family.

Government Assistance

Recognizing the socioeconomic consequences of both the COVID-19

pandemic and the response to it, national and municipal governments passed

laws and regulations as early as March 2020, which established social

assistance measures to compensate for the dramatic loss in income of

numerous categories (CEPAL 2020). The Department of Social Welfare and

Development Office (DSWD) reported that the government have served

already 17.57 million of qualified beneficiaries for the Social Amelioration

Program (SAP). Like a lot of countries all over the world, the Philippines have

also implemented cash transfer programs such as SAP to support the

 41

displaced and the vulnerable. Some of the respondents have reported their

experience on the SAP;

According to Respondent 8, "Naa, naa silay gihatag sa amoa, cash

assistance P5,000.00 kato gung SAP naa pud bugas. Pero lisud man
gihapon, struggle kaayo kay dili nami makapaninda, mahadlok naman
ang mga tao mogawas atong panahona. (Yes. They have given us
cash assistance for 5,000, the SAP and some rice. But it was still hard
since it was a struggle because we cannot sell. people are also afraid
to go out during that time.)"
Respondent 1 also states that he received the SAP from the
government. He stated "akoa lang jung nadawat ato gang kay ang SAP
kay lagi apil man ko sa 4ps. (The only assistance i receive during that
time was the SAP because i belong in the 4ps.)"
With many street vendors experiencing near-total customer loss, they

stated that the only way to survive was to seek economic assistance from

local communities. This need has led to street vendor protests in which they

demand financial assistance from their governments as well as workplace

safety protection. Other worker protection measures may fall through the

cracks for street sellers (WEIGO, 2020). With this regard, the respondents

have also asked a lot of times for assistance and help from the Office of the

City Economic Enterprise Management or OCEEM of the City of Digos to

have some cash assistance or livelihood assistance as they are ousted in

their location and has been struggling when the pandemic have hit them and

as they are restricted and limit in selling. Few of the respondents have shared,

stating;

Respondent 10 states, "nakadawat ko sa livelihood assistance sa

OCEEM ato nga 2,000 day pero asta natong liwasa sa pandemic oy.
Kato man tong niaging tuig pahumanay na. natingala gani ko kay dili
tanan nakadawat parehas ni tatay (i did received a livelihood
assistance from OCEEM for 2,000 but it was way back the pandemic. It
was given late last year. I was confused why some did not receive like
my husband)."
 42

As well as Respondent 3, "Dugay naman to nadawat sukad pagbalhin

namo gang. ingon ato nila sa una mga 5k daw kay na bankrupt baya
jud among baligya. Nagbalhin mi didtoa sa coregidor karon na namong
tuiga nadawat tong 1k nga livelihood nga hatag nila. Dili man tanan
nahatagan atong 1k kay pili-pili man gihapon tong mga bag-o wala
nahatagan. Ang mga dugay maoy nahatagan. Naa sad usahay bugas
panghatag. (We've received (assistance) it way back after our
rehabilitation. At first, they said that it was five thousand since we all
gone bankrupt because of the nature of our business (ukay). It was just
this year when we receive the 1 thousand pesos for livelihood but it
was last year when we were moved to corregidor. The 1 thousand
pesos was not given to everyone since it was choosen and those new
ones did not receive any. Those old vendors was the one who received
(the livelihood). There were also rice given to us. )"
Congruently, Respondent 4 also testifies that, "naa man may nadawat
tong bag-o lang. tong 1k lang. may nalang to pang abog-abog kay
napahawa baya mi mao man to atong pag alternate-alternate namo.
(We did receive something recently the 1 thousand. It was helpful since
we were oust away when we were alternating.)"
Lastly, respondent 5 has stated that "Kato ra ming bag-o nakadawat
atong 1k. Ang palengki nakadawat atog 2k, mas dako man silag
nadawat. Ang palengki man unta adlaw-adlaw man unta naninda kami
ge demolish gipabalhin pero 1k ra nadawat. Parehas ra man unta pod
mig bayad sa arkabala ana nila 20 r asad.wala pod ko kabalo nganong
mas dako ilang nadawat. (It was recent when we receive the 1
thousand. The market (vendors) receive 2 thousand, they receive
bigger. The market (vendors) can vend every day while we were
demolished and moved away but we only received 1 thousand. We pay
the same arkabala, 20 pesos. I do not know why they received higher
than us.)"
Moreover, statements from several street vendors also have reflected

that they have used some government assistance, especially those food

assistance in order to somewhat survive the struggles during a pandemic.

However, there are also respondents who have voiced out there sentiments of

not having to have some assistance during the pandemic despite being a

street vendor for a long time and have paid their "arkabala" religiously;

Respondent 2 directly stated that "nakadawat akong misis atong liwas

na pandemic gikan sa OCEEM kay naa man sad siya namaligya diraa
sa may Llanos daan sa palengki. Namaligya sad siyag siopao parehas
nako. Nakadawat siyag 2k ato. Pero ako wala jud koy nadawat ato
gang. Maskin piso. Natingala gani ko nga parehas ra man unta mi
 43

kadugay namaligya, naga bayad man sad kog arkabala, pero nganong
wala ko nahatagan ato. Kato rang naa sa palengki ang nahatagan ato
gang. kami diria sa park kay wala intawon. (My wife receives
assistance from OCEEM way past the pandemic becasue she is also a
vendor outside the public market near the old Llanos building. She
receive two thousand pesos but i did not receive any, even just a
penny. i was troubled since we are the same, iam also a vendor, i am
also a vendor for too long, i also pay my "arkabala " everyday but i did
not receive any help. only those vendors inside and near the public
market received an assistance but us here in Rizal Park did not receive
any.)".
A testimony from Respondent 7 saying "Isip usa ka street vendor wala
tawon koy nadawat kay dili man ko miyembro sa asosayon, ambot
kaha sa uban ug naa ba sila nadawat pero ako wala man. Grabe
kapait, walay income problema kayo ug asa manguha tanan, pero di
lang ta magsalig ta sa gobyerno,maningkamot pud ta bisan pandemya
kay kita man tanan apektado gyud aning sitwasyona.(As a street
vendor, i did not receive anything since I am not a member of their
association. I don't know for the others if they receive something but for
me, i did not receive any. It was very challenging since we dont have
an income, we were problematic where to look for money, but we have
to not depend on the government, try on our own even if its pandemic
since every one of us is affected by this situation.)"
Respondent 1 stated that "Nakadawat sad mi ug bugas gikan sa
among barangay didtoa sa sta cruz pero ug kanang hinabang nga
gikan sa OCEEM, wala jud gang oy. Wala man mi nahatagan atong
naa silay panghatag didtoa sa palengki. di man sad mi makapugos kay
naninda man ra man mi. (Although, we also have received some
rice from our barangay but we really did not receive any
help/assistance from OCEEM)".
When it comes to social protection, street vendors fall into the "missing

middle" category (Alfers and Mousie, 2019). This means they are "too poor" to

be covered by social insurance and "too rich" to be eligible for government-

funded social assistance, which is normally reserved for the poorest and most

vulnerable of the poor. COVID-19 has clearly revealed the repercussions of

denying social protection to the vast majority of the world's workers

(International Labor Organization, 2020). Informal workers require financial

assistance to compensate for revenue loss or reduction due to restrictions on

movement and work during and after lockdowns, as well as illness of the
 44

worker and/or family members. When they or their family members become ill

with COVID-19, informal laborers require medical attention as well (Chen,

2020).

With both statements from those respondents who have received any

assistance from the government and those who have not, it have implied that

not all of the street vendors who are paying their arkalaba and is registered in

the OCEEM have received government aid during the pandemic, and this only

reflects that there is a uncertainty for these street vendors as they knew that

not all of them can received such assistance from the government despite

being able to adjust for the mandate of the government and fulfilling their

obligations.

DISCUSSION

This research endeavor was presented by the researchers in lieu of

seeking for the life experiences of the street vendors during the pandemic.

The responses from the respondents were later then on analyze and resulted

into four (4) main themes namely; Unrestricted Selling, Accessibility of Goods,

Stability of Income and Costumers and lastly, Challenges on Weather and

Competitors. Before the pandemic, it was reported that street vendors were

not restricted in selling in the streets when there was no pandemic. According

to Chen & Carre (2020), street vendors do pay a variety of levies to the LGU

in order to be permitted to sell on public property. Furthermore, as they are

often unrestricted in selling out in the streets, street vendors do have a good

access to the goods and costumers in the streets. WEIGO (2014) and
 45

Taishankar & Sujatha (2016) specify that street vendors provide convenient

access to a variety of goods and services in public spaces. Because of they

are allowed to venture and sell their products inaccessible places, thus, they

have a sustainable income enough to provide for their family's needs. Freire,

Hoornweg, Slack, & Stren (2018) strengthen this claim by stating that despite

the fact that these street vendors are still impoverished, the income that they

accumulated enabled them to sustain their needs. Although these street

vendors have their good times when there was no pandemic, they do have

struggles in terms of weather and competitors. Mong & Sunjolinet (2016) and

Arsene et.al (2020) testify that the rainy season has been both unpleasant

and unprofitable to street vendors as they do not have a permanent structure,

which is also the claim of the respondents. Sverdlik (2021) and Wong, Chan &

Ngan (2019) claims that street vendors work more than the regular eight (8)

hours a day, which means that they are more prone to climate-related

hazards at work.

As the pandemic hits the world, street vendors are one of the most

affected. According to WEIGO (2020), street vendors claimed that they have

lost 90% of income owing to lower foot traffic. Due to this claim, researchers

have also explored the experiences of street vendors during the pandemic

and have resulted to four (4) themes; Loss of Costumers, Unstable Income,

Restrictions during Pandemic & Good's Discrimination. Layesa & Flores-

Obanil (2021) stated that lack of public transportations & that people only

leave their house if necessary was one of the reasons why street vendors

have lost most of their customers. Moreover, Kim et. al. (2020), Fairlie &

Fosses (2022) and Wang, Chen, Yue and McAleer (2022) stated that since
 46

the government mandated the lockdown & social distancing to curve the

number of infected cases and has restricted mobility or activity to those non-

essential industries, it limits the number of people who can buy from the

vendors and have affected their income. Moreover, The Business Standard

(2020) also affirms that few vendors have complained that they have been

moved to non-market public areas. World Health Organization (WHO) has

also mandated to restrict those minor and senior citizens from going out as

they are high risk form being infected. These restrictions imposed by the

government have a huge impact to the street vendors as they are dependent

on daily customers, resulting for them to have an unstable income during the

pandemic.

Martinez et.al (2022), Board (2020), Koh (2020) and Laborde, Martin &

Ros (2020) affirms that the lockdown has created a significant economic

stress with negative consequences for financial security and hunger for street

vendors stating how different is the income of street vendors from before.

According to Martinez et.al. (2022), street vendors confront substantial

obstacles & instability during the pandemic as informal laborers. Accordingly,

ReliefWeb (2020) claims that due to curfews limiting the hours at work of

street vendors and have restricted foot and vehicular traffic, such restrictions

have been a result for the income of street vendors to decline. According to

the findings and support provided by numerous academics, the government's

varied restrictions have severely harmed street sellers as a result of the

pandemic. As Cash and Patel (2020) stated, restricting the mobility of street

vendors damages poor people's livelihoods & put their lives in jeopardy.
 47

Because of such results and challenges of the street vendors, the

researchers have also investigated about the coping mechanisms of the street

vendors. The analysis of the results for coping mechanisms of the street

vendors have resulted to; Alternative Job, Alternative Selling Technique, and

Government Assistance. State-imposed lockdowns have a significant impact

to street vendors as they have endured a diminution or entire loss of their

livelihoods (OECD. 2021). They have therefore worked on numerous sources

of income, such as labor, as their primary source has been severely impacted

by the pandemic. They have stepped beyond of their comfort zone because,

as members of a disadvantaged group of citizens, they are unsure of their

ability to survive the pandemic without their street hawking. Moreover,

because it is restricted to sell out in the streets, street vendors have opted to

use the online platform as a tool for their products to sell and to have an

income.

According to Word Stream (2021), the pandemic has accelerated the

rate at which people are moving digital. The street vendors greatly expresses

that they have used Facebook in order to post their products and then they

deliver it to the costumers. Furthermore, other street vendors have also tried

selling their products at their neighborhood, trying their luck in earning small

income so that they could buy their necessities. Lastly, one of the coping

mechanisms of the street vendors was the government assistance given to

them. WEIGO (2020) affirms that with many street vendors experiencing near-

total customer loss, they stated that the only way to survive was to seek

economic assistance from local communities. However, not all street vendors
 48

affirm that they have received both cash and food assistance from the

government.

CONCLUSION

The researchers have explored both the life of the street vendors

before and during the pandemic and have concluded that there is a significant

difference with the lives of street vendors. The life of street vendors before

may not be that easy but it is certainly not that chaotic as their life during the

pandemic. They may have experienced struggles and challenges before, but

the problems they have faced during the pandemic have been harder than it is

before. Specifically, the income of street vendors have been greatly affected

and changed during the Covid 19 pandemic which is the main struggle of the

research respondents.

The Filipinos are known as resilient people and the research

respondents were one of them. The street vendors in this study, although

we're struggling is continuously trying to come up with solutions to their

problems and unceasingly trying to be positive despite the struggles. They

have ventured into other jobs like laboring and other selling techniques such

as online selling and selling in their neighborhood. Apparently, together with

these alternative sources of income, these street vendors also have gained

help and support from the government assistance given to them. They have

received cash assistance and food assistance from the barangay, local and

national government.

One of the objectives of this study was to determine to whether street

vendors from Digos City received the same privileges and assistance from the
 49

City Government. However, the researchers assert that all of the respondents

stated that they did not have received any assistance or rights before the

pandemic have happen. Although they have received something but it is not

like given to them religiously rather, it was given to them during occasions.

Moreover, those street vendors away from the public market did not receive

any assistance from the Office of the City Economic and Enterprise

Management aside from those given from their barangay as they are part of

the other sector of the government but as a street vendor, they have receive

none. Lastly, the researchers would like to emphasize on the struggles of the

street vendors with regards to their location. Even before the pandemic has

hit, they have experienced being tossed and ousted away from their location

despite being able to pay their "arkabala" or rent for their stall. They can be

easily removed from their post as there is no public policy protecting them

from being removed and ousted from their previous location despite them

following the rules and regulations of the local government.

Additionally, the demand-side approach which is used in this study,

specifically, the Financial Gains and Formal Economy Failures, have been

explicitly presented in the results of this study. The results of this study clearly

shows why the street vendors continuously try to sell despite the mandate and

restrictions of the government to not go out and sell during the pandemic. The

street vendors knew that the financial gain which they could accumulate is

greater than having none during the pandemic. They knew that if they

continuously rely upon the government, they would have nothing to eat.

Moreover, they are also not part of the formal economy, meaning that they do
 50

not have the same privileges and rights than those who belong in the formal

economy.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations are made in consideration of the

study's findings and conclusions:

1. There is a need to create a stable and concrete public policy for the

privileges for social assistance and rights for selling that is ought to be

given to the street vendors of Digos City.

2. There should be a meeting or open forum at least once a month for the

street vendors to be facilitated by the government under the Office of

the City Economic and Enterprise Management (OCEEM) in order for

them to be fully aware of their duties and responsibilities as street

vendors as well as they can voice out their sentiments to the

government.

3. Steps should be taken to improve the locations of the street vendors

operating conditions and facilities e.g., providing clean protected

structures and being able to stay in their locations where they can

freely sell and to not be easily move/oust by government officials.

4. Control and monitoring should principally be carried out through the

regular presence of adequately officials to rectify inappropriate

practices such as not paying their "arkabala" or not keeping their stalls

clean and tidy.

 51

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APPENDICES
 57

INTERVIEW GUIDE QUESTIONS

Part I. Introductory Protocol

We, the researchers, would like to record our discussions right now

and make note-taking easier. Consider signing the authorization form. For

further reference, exclusively we, the study researchers, intend to make the

recording confidential, which will be retained after it is transcribed.

Participants must therefore sign the consent documents created to comply

with the research participants standards. In essence, this paper states that:

(1) all information will be kept private; (2) your participation is voluntary, and

you may withdraw at any period if you were really uncomfortable; and (3) we

have no intention of harming you. Thank you for agreeing to take part in this

survey. We have set a time limit of one hour for this interview. We have

several questions we would really like to address throughout this time. Should

time run out, it may be essential to interrupt you in order to progress further

with this line of inquiry.

Part II. Introduction

You have been selected to speak with us today because you have

been identified as someone who has a great deal to share your journey as a

street vendor in Digos City. Our research project as a whole focuses on the

following specific factors; struggles and coping mechanisms with particular

interest in understanding how these factors affect your living especially during

the Covid 19 lockdown. This study does not aim to evaluate your performance

or thoughts rather we are trying to learn about the struggles and coping

strategies of being a street vendor during the Covid 19 pandemic.

 58

Part III. Start of Interview Proper

1. What is your way of life before pandemic? (Unsa inyong pamaagi sa

pangamuyo sa wala pay pandemya?)
a) Kumusta man pud ang inyung pamuyo te/kol, inyung panginabuhi?
b) Pila diay kabuok imuhang anak te/kol?
c) Dugay na ba kang street vendor te/kol? Pila na katuig?
d) Kumusta man imong kita atong wala pay pandemya te/kol?
e) Naglisod ba mo sauna nga wala paý pandemya sa inyong kita?
f) Naa ba mo’y mga nadawat nga benefits sa una gikan sa atong
gobyerno nga wala pay pandemya? Unsa man kini?
2. How were you during the pandemic? (Kumusta man mo sa panahon sa
pandemya?)
a) Unsa’y pinaka dako ninyong suliranon atong sugod sa lockdown?
b) Unsa’y epekto ani sa inyong pangamoyo isip pamilya?
c) Dako ba kaayo’g kausaban ang dala sa pandemya sa inyong
pamilya? Sa unsang pamaagi?
3. What were your coping strategies during the pandemic? (Unsa man imong
mga pamaagi or diskarte atong pandemya?)
a) Unsa inyong pangita atong pandemya?
b) Sa unsang mga pamaagi man nga nasolusyonan ninyo inyong mga
problema atong pandemya?
c) Naa ba moy nadawat nga tabang gikan sa atong gobyerno isip
street vendor? Unsa kini?
Part IV. Close the Interview
1. Allow the interviewees (street vendors) to express their thoughts and
oral assessments on their experiences/responses.
2. Thank the Participants
We appreciate the time and effort you exerted to conduct this interview
with us. Your replies are extremely valuable to this research. The answers
obtained here would be integrated into the qualitative data analysis results to
help support the representation of the study's findings.
 59

RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

Research Questions Guide Questions

1. What is the life of the research
participants before pandemic?
2. What are the challenges faced by the pandemic?
1.1 How was your life before the
pandemic?
1.2 What were the common problems or
challenges you have encountered as a
street vendor before the pandemic?
1.3 What were the privileges you have
experienced as street vendor?
2.1 How was your life or daily living during

the participants during the 2.2 In what ways has your life been
impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic? Your
pandemic?
family?
2.3 What were the biggest challenges you
have encountered during the pandemic?
3.1 How were you able to survive handled
or faced the challenges you have
3. What are the coping strategies of
encountered during the imposed lockdown?
the participants during the
3.2 In what ways were you able to provide
pandemic? for your family’s needs?
3.3 What are the help or assistance you
have received during the pandemic?