Carbon Markets

These are not for tourists. Squatter residences in the city mark the entry to the wooden and cardboard stalls lining the dirt, muddy roads where little naked children splash in puddles.

No brand knock offs. No other foreigners except me. I was a sight to be seen. But Alex, my friend’s driver, was by my side and gallantly made sure I was safe. Alex explained that the farmers come to the market by jeepnee, the official bus system.

Jeepnees are small jeeps with benches in the back and a roof so short I bumped my head every time I entered. An honor system prevails – when you want to stop, you bang on the roof and pass your money up the bench. A typical jeepnee ride costs 8 pesos. There is no published route system and shorter hauls are done by trike, a motorcycle with a side car.


Farmers come down with all their harvest and stay, sleep at the markets on the street until it is sold. Tomatoes, onions, root vegetables and misshapen bulbous potatoes. Dried fish. Coconut plant and bamboo plants. Lumpia. Bags and bags of rice. Bootleg DVDs upstairs. We did not go to the meat section on Kacy’s advice.



One of Alex’s friends has a car. He goes to the market at 5 am, the busiest time. He waits to be hired by people buying for restaurants. A good haul can be worth 400 pesos for him. Which is almost double the average daily wage, 260 pesos.

Cebu is a third world country and poverty is abundant. Many people in Cebu and Mactan are squatters – they have built shacks and some cement houses on government land. The threat is always there that the government will move them, but the government is corrupt and has not built alternative housing. So, they stay squatting with a busy community where the beauty shop in a squatter residence is open and packed at 10 at night.