Street vendors selling native delicacies and who normally rake in sales during this pilgrimage season continue to suffer losses due to the quarantine restrictions brought about by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

With the absence of the usual huge crowd of pilgrims that used to troop to the city during the pilgrimage season of May to July to pay homage to the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, also known as the Virgin of Antipolo, whose 17th century image is enshrined in the Antipolo Cathedral in Antipolo City, the number of vendors who sell suman (sticky rice wrapped in palm leaves); cashew nuts; mangoes, and other summertime fruits and native delicacies, on the streets leading to the Antipolo Cathedral, continue to decline.

But there are still some vendors who remain and continue their tradition..

Mary Jane Yuson has been a street vendor since 2002 selling the favorites such as suman and roasted or fried cashew nuts on the sidewalk leading to the Antipolo Cathedral.

“Noong wala pang pandemya, araw-araw akong nagtitinda. Pero ngayong may quarantine, tuwing Linggo na lang. Gustuhin ko mang magtinda sa bangketa araw-araw, wala rin akong kikitain kasi kakaunti ang mga taong dumadayo para magsimba, (When there was no pandemic, I used to sell every day, but now with the quarantine, I sell only on Sunday),” Yuson told the Manila Bulletin.

Yuson said prior to the pandemic, she could earn P1,000 or more per day which was more than enough to pay for her household bills and provide food for her family. This was the time when pilgrims would come in droves.

To make more sales, Yuson and her fellow vendors would go to other places outside Rizal Province to sell their products.

But when the pandemic hit the country, Yuson could hardly earn Pp500, an amount which she said was not even enough to buy her family’s daily needs such as three meals. She also cannot bring her wares to other places due to quarantine restrictions.

To try to make both ends meet, Yuson also sells "balut" (boiled duck eggs) near her residence during weekdays.

Yuson expressed hope that she could be part of the national government’s conditional cash grant called 4P’s or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

“Sana po mabigyan kami ni Pangulong Duterte ng dagdag na puhunan para mabuhay nang maayos ang aming pamilya lalo na ngayong pandemya (I wish that President Duterte would give us additional capital so that we could provide for our family especially during this pandemic)," Yuson said.

Another vendor, Rachel Montano, a mother of three, sells "bibingka," (rice cake) usually sold during Christmas season, near the Antipolo Cathedral for more than 18 years now.

Bibingka vendors used to rule the side streets during the Christmas season. But when the pandemic struck, Montano is now the only remaining vendor selling bibingka near the vicinity of the church all year round.

“Kailangan ko pong mabuhay para sa pamilya at mga anak ko. (I need to survive for my family and kids), Montano told the Manila Bulletin as she fanned the charcoal on a metallic pan over a pan of bibingka she was cooking.

Montano’s income out of selling rice cakes, could barely sustain her daily household expenses prompting her to add other products such as face shields, and "bagoong na isda" (fermented fish).

“Madalang na ang mga tao sa kalsada ngayon hindi kagaya noong wala pang pandemya. Halos maghapon at gabi kaming nagtitinda ng bibingka noon kasama ko ang asawa ko. Ngayon, simula alas 3 hanggang alas onse ng gabi na lang kasi wala nang bumibili. ( People are rarely out on the streets unlike before when there was no pandemic. We would sell bibingka the whole day and my husband used to help me. Now, I only sell from 3 p.m. until 11 p.m. since there are no more customers).

Montano, however, sees hope that her livelihood would improve once quarantine restrictIons are lifted.

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