This was divulged in a news article by the 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘶𝘻𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳. [𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁.]
Last Tuesday, November 11, the city council and the government-led technical working group (TWG) held a closed-door session at Camp John Hay to discuss the proposed market redevelopment deal.
According to the 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘓𝘶𝘻𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳, they had a source at the meeting, an unnamed councilor who told them that Mayor Benjamin Magalong was present at the closed-door meeting. Magalong reportedly confirmed that SM will also be selling vegetables, meat, fish, and other goods in the commercial center that will be built beside the public market.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘯-𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 h𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘔 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩, 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘷𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴."
A non-compete clause is supposed to protect vendors in the public market because the clause will prohibit SM from selling goods that are being sold in the market. The purpose of the non-compete clause is to prevent competition between the public market and the SM-managed commercial center. The exclusion of the non-compete clause in the version of the project that was discussed in the closed-door meeting should definitely raise alarm.
Also, it should be noted here that the non-compete clause was included in earlier talks on the redevelopment project. Why was it suddenly excluded?
