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PART of Colon Street in Cebu City will be closed to vehicular traffic during the five-day Colon Shopping Festival and Colon Night Market this week.
This will encourage pedestrians and shoppers to check out sales and promotion offerings in different stores in the Philippine’s oldest street.
Jeepneys passing Colon will be rerouted from the time the night market opens at 8 p.m. till it closes at 2 a.m. said Supt. Marciano Batiancela Jr., director of the Cebu City Traffic Group.
This will coincide with the night market from June 5 to June 15,
The annual activity is organized by the Cebu City government and Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which is celebrating Cebu Business Month in June.
This is also in line with the Downtown Revitalization Project of the city government, said president George Chu.
“These events are part of our study on the project. The traffic rerouting is part of the proposal to examine if there is a need to close some portions of downtown,” Chu told Cebu Daily News.
According to a Cebu City Traffic Group statement, Colon Street starting from the corner of Colon Street and Osmeña Boulevard until the corner of Colon Street and D. Jakosalem Street will be closed to vehicular traffic during shopping hours of the night market.
CCCI executive director Teresa Pono said these activities are part of the chamber's entrepreneurship track as part of the Cebu Business Month celebration in June.
CCCI's advocacies are anchored on entrepreneurship, tourism and information and communication technology.
These three thrusts give Cebu a competitive edge over other provinces in the country.
The Colon Street shopping festival is on its second year, while the night market is on its third year.
“We push for the development of micro, small and medium enterprises. Downtown Cebu is the area where you can see many small entrepreneurs whom we should support,” he said.
For the shopping festival, he said, establishments such as cellphone shops and ready-to-wear (RTW) stores were encouraged to hold sales promo events to entice customers.
RTW clothes, food and fruits, fashion accessories and footwear are the best sellers for the past two years of the night market. /Reporter Cris Evert B. Lato
