FOUR members of the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) in Baguio City are called to appear before the City Council over allegations of abuse against a tofu (taho) vendor over the weekend.
Taho vendor Benedick Seño has sought the assistance of Councilor Edgar Avila over an incident with POSD personnel on Saturday, February 2.
"There is a need for the local government unit to act on the matter not only to protect our small enterprising vendors who are working honestly for a living, but also to give opportunity for the concerned agency to explain their side as this can be damaging to the image of our city as the incident was recorded and posted in social media," Avila said.
Avila has asked Seño as well as the POSD to appear for the next council session.
Seño related to Avila that around one o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, he was selling taho along the area of the Botanical Garden at Leonard Wood Road when four personnel (one lady and three men) of the POSD came and accosted him.
Seño then told the POSD personnel he holds a permit to sell in the area and showed it to them. Upon saying this, they backed off and proceeded to return to their service vehicle parked across the street alongside Botanical Garden.
The vendor also decided to leave and flagged down a taxi. Before he rode the taxi he placed his taho containers at the luggage area of the taxi and was already seated at the front seat when the same POSD personnel that accosted him a few minutes earlier suddenly opened the rear door of the taxi and started to grab his containers.
Alarmed by what he saw, Seño alighted from the taxi and immediately went to the back side of the vehicle to prevent the POSD from taking his containers but the POSD still insisted on confiscating the said containers despite his plea for consideration.
Seño said he wrestled with the POSD personnel but was overwhelmed by their number. One of the content of container was spilled while the other one was taken by the POSD personnel. He was told to claim it at their office at Baguio City Hall.
A bystander took a video of the scuffle and uploaded it and has since gone viral.
Avila said Seño has yet to claim his container. He said aside from financial constraints Seño is "frightened as a result of his traumatic experience with the POSD."
Seño works Mondays to Fridays as a security guard, Saturdays and Sundays as a taho vendor and a village watchman in the evening.
