By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

"Little Manila," the market for the Filipino community held every Sunday, is being allowed to stay at Hyehwa-dong, at least for now.

Jongno District Office in Seoul has informed the Philippine Embassy it will not push through with its original plan to relocate the market from its location outside the Hyehwa-dong Catholic Church to the new multicultural market in Nakwon-dong this month.

"They will not push through with the relocation plan this March, pending on the improvements (in the market), such as the new size and designs of the market stalls that were being discussed together with the vendors," Father Alvin Parantar, chaplain of the Hyehwa-dong Filipino Catholic Community and representative for the ethnic community, told The Korea Times.

The Jongno District Office confirmed the plan under the spirit of promoting co-existence with the Filipino community.

"It is best if they move to another place as the current market is open illegally," Lee Jong-ju of the district said.

"However, we will not force them to move out as they are trying to improve the market in a clean and orderly way. For instance, they stopped setting up stalls behind taxi stands."

Parantar said the community greatly appreciates Jongno District Office's consideration, even though there is no final decision on the matter. Jongno officials have warned that they will be closely monitoring developments at the Philippine market, before deciding on the fate of the market.

"When these visible developments of the market have been done, the Jongno office will discuss the issue with Seoul City office. However, they warned that if the vendors fail to follow the proposed changes, Jongno District office will raise the issue of relocation once again," Parantar said.

The Korea Times reported last Feb. 11 that the office planned to relocate the market by March, citing complaints about traffic congestion, garbage and disorderliness in the area from passers-by and residents.

However, the Filipino community objected to the plan and organized signature campaigns to save the market, which was described as an expression of Philippine way of life.

In response to the problems cited by Jongno District Office, the vendors submitted proposals to improve the market. Among others, they proposed reducing the size of the "selling" areas to ease the pedestrian traffic, and introducing actual stalls with Philippine cultural designs.

Parantar said the implementation of these proposals will be further discussed among the 16 vendors who sell Philippine products at the Sunday market.

"The ball is on our court now. This is not easy because there is internal conflict among the vendors, which is understandable because of competition. We still need to fully convince them to stick to the changes in the market's set up. We don't know where the budget will come from either," he said.

Nonetheless, Parantar is glad the Jongno officials have recognized the importance of the Philippine market not just to the Filipino community, but for Seoul.

"The Hyehwa-dong community and the Philippine embassy are firming up details for the implementation of the proposals. We hope to gather more cooperation and support from everyone who wanted to see 'Little Manila' thriving and improving into something that we can all be proud of," Parantar said.

The Philippine marketplace, called "Little Manila," first emerged in 1997 and takes place every Sunday for Filipinos who attend mass at the Hyehwa Catholic Church. About 1,200 to 2,000 Filipinos visit the marketplace, which some consider as a fine example of Korea's racial harmony. There are about 46,000 Filipinos in Korea, forming the fifth largest ethnic group, following Chinese, Americans, Vietnamese and Japanese.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr



서울 도심 필리핀 시장 당분간 유지

매주 일요일 서울 혜화동에서 열리는 필리핀인들의 시장 `리틀 마닐라’가 당분간 현 위치에서 계속될 것으로 보인다.

종로구청은 최근 필리핀 대사관에 이달 중 혜화동 성당의 시장을 낙원동 다문화시장으로 옮기려던 원래 계획을 실행하지 않을 것이라고 전달한 것으로 알려졌다.

이에 대해 필리핀 커뮤니티는 이 문제에 대한 최종 결정은 아니지만, 종로구청의 배려에 감사한다고 밝혔다.

종로구청 측은 `리틀 마닐라’ 문제에 대한 최종 결정 전에 상황을 면밀히 검토할 예정이다. 아울러 서울시와도 이 문제를 논의할 것으로 보인다.