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WITH All Saints and All Souls Day this weekend, expect flower vendors in Carbon Market and the Freedom Park to go all out cajoling passersby to buy their wares today.
Flower vendors from the hinterland barangays of Sirao, Taptap, Bonbon and Busay started trooping to Carbon Market, the Freedom Park and in the cemeteries since Oct. 25.
At the Freedom Park, city residents are greeted with the sight of baskets filled with chrysanthemums, roses, anthuriums and gladiolas by vendors who sell their flowers at least P10 more than their regular price.
Flower vendor Helen Rabis said the demand for flowers is at its highest for All Saints? and All Souls? Day than at any time of the year.
?This is the time we can recover our losses during ordinary days,? Rabis said in Cebuano.
Rabis and her 75-year-old mother Librada Berdijo, have been selling flowers for more than 10 years in the area.
Every year, they spend the night on wooden beds rented at P10 each at the Freedom Park for the entire week of October 25 to November 1 so they can sell flowers the following day.
?We are used to this arrangement. There are barangay police and there are many people in the area, so there?s nothing to be afraid of,? she told .
Rabis has her own backyard garden of chrysanthemums and gladiolas in their small lot in barangay Busay.
From Oct. 25 to 31, jeepneys filled with flowers arrive between 4 a.m to 5 p.m to deliver the flowers to vendors at the Freedom Park.
Gladiolas which normally cost P20 per bundle increase to P35.
Large chrysanthemums can go as high as P60 to P80 per dozen from its usual price of P25 to P40.
Medium sized roses increase to P60 per dozen compared to its normal price of P30.
These price increases are normal in the week before the first two days of November, said 18-year-old Frescille Ardina, who has been selling flowers with her mother, Marcelina, for nine years.
?Sales are also different during this week. We earn more but we should know how to entertain customers to convince them to buy,? Ardina said.
But while sales can be high, Florencia Cambunga of barangay Babag 2, said they need to work double time to sell the flowers immediately.
?Dali ra ni madaot, malaya nga baligya mao nga kinahanglan idispatsar na gyud ni (Flowers easily wither so we need to sell it as soon as possible),? said Cambunga, 54 and a mother of four.
Selling flowers for more than 20 years now, Cambunga said vendors like her need to sell quality flowers to customers.
?At the end of the day, the goal is to sell everything that you have in your pail,? she said.
Other vendors like 26-year old Rosalina Tacdoy take advantage of the season to earn additional income.
Tacdoy invests P1,000 for 37 small bundles of small-size chrysanthemums, which she sells at P35 to P40 per bundle.
If all are sold, she earns a profit between P295 to P480.
Sales are brisk at Ben?s Flowershop also in Carbon market.
Sales boy Dexter Dayondon, 30, confirmed to that business had been brisk the past few days.
?Daghan gyud. Mao man gyud ni madali-dali sa tanan, mapobre o madatu kay tag-P100 ra man (I sold many. People from all walks of life can afford this because it?s only P100 per basket),? said Dayondon, a resident of barangay Day-as.
Medium-sized flower stands, which cost P500 this week, are another brisk seller at this time of the year. On ordinary days, it costs between P250 to P300.
Prices of flowers are expected to go down on the afternoon of Nov. 1 as vendors, who mostly come from mountain barangays, pack up to leave the city.
?Vendors will be willing to sell flowers at much lower prices because we are going home that day. You can ask for bargain prices as much as you can,? vendor Evelyn Leyson said.
