Carbon Market

The name of the Carbon Market came from the word carbón, Spanish for coal, since the area was said to be close to a coal depot used for the trains of the old Cebu Railway that ran in Cebu from the 19th century up until World War II.

File:Carbon Market Cebu City.jpg

Little is known as to when commercial activities in Carbon started. However, the district around Carbon, called Lutao ("float" in English), which also includes the Ermita barangay, is right by the coast and close to the port of Cebu, which going back to the precolonial era, already had a reputation as a “major regional trading center" in the region now known as the Visayas. It is said that trade was already present during the Spanish occupation of Cebu, and Carbon Market predates the American occupation of the Philippines.{{ cite news |last=Oaminal |first=Clarence Paul |date=December 17, 2020 |title=In defense of Carbon |url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2020/12/17/2064431/defense-carbon |work=The Freeman |accessdate=November 3, 2022 }}{{ cite news |last=Oaminal |first=Clarence Paul |date=February 5, 2021 |title=In defense of Carbon - Part 3 |url=https://www.pressreader.com/philippines/the-freeman/20210205/281612423084692 |accessdate=November 3, 2022 }}{{ cite news |last=Bersales |first=Jobers Reynes |date=October 28, 2019 |title=Cebu City in the ‘Transit’ Age |url=https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/266666/cebu-city-in-the-transit-age |accessdate=November 3, 2022 }}

Like much of Cebu and the Philippines, Carbon sustained heavy damages from World War II. But as the city and the country rebuilt and grew, so did the market. On May 13, 1964, then-Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal, by the virtue of the Presidential Proclamation 241, formally donated the plot of land on which Carbon stood to the local government of Cebu City, which, until then, was formally owned by the national government.{{ cite web |title=Proclamation No. 241, s. 1964 |url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1964/05/13/proclamation-no-241-s-1964/ |work=Official Gazette |accessdate=November 3, 2022 }}

In the 1990s, there were plans to phase out the Carbon Market leading to the formation of cooperatives by vendors. In 2000, some vendors created a cooperative to sell their wares, and later two other cooperatives were formed by different units of the market.{{cite news |title=Coop helps vendors in Carbon market |url=http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20090126-185627/Coop-helps-vendors-in-Carbon-market |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=Cebu Daily News |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=26 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131093711/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20090126-185627/Coop-helps-vendors-in-Carbon-market |archive-date=31 January 2009}} In 2002, three main cooperatives unified to form the Carbon Market Vendors Development Cooperative (Cemvedco).

In 2007, governmental delays in rebuilding of the market caused a political controversy, leading one vendor to run for city council from the barangay of Ermita, winning on that single-issue platform.{{cite news |last1=Berondo |first1=Wenna |title=Vendor-turned-councilman pushes for Carbon’s Unit 2 reconstruction |url=http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=25385 |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=The Freeman |publisher=The Philippine Star |date=4 November 2007 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911033445/http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=25385 |archive-date=11 September 2012}}

As of September 2009, the Cebu City government opened up land for private development of a newer market, called the Bagsakan Center. The goal was to increase competition and lower prices for consumers at both markets. {{cite news |last1=Codilla |first1=Marian |title=Bagsakan center to open by yearend |url=http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20090911-224700/Bagsakan-center-to-open-by-yearend |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=Cebu Daily News |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=11 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916180624/http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/enterprise/view/20090911-224700/Bagsakan-center-to-open-by-yearend |archive-date=16 September 2009}}

In the late 2010s, there was a proposal by retail firm SM Prime to redevelop the Carbon Market.{{cite news |last1=Demecillo |first1=Jean Marvette |title=Modern market worries vendors |url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2019/09/27/1955276/modern-market-worries-vendors |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=The Philippine Star |date=27 September 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Cerojano |first1=Philip A. |title=SM eyes modern Carbon market |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1824874/cebu/local-news/sm-eyes-modern-carbon-market |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=SunStar |date=25 September 2019 |language=en}}

In 2020, Filipino conglomerate Megawide Construction Corporation entered into a 50-year agreement with the local government of Cebu City that will see the redevelopment of the market{{ cite news |last=Dumlao-Abadilla |first=Doris |title=Megawide wins P5.5-B deal to transform Cebu’s famed Carbon Market |url=https://business.inquirer.net/315572/megawide-wins-p5-5-b-deal-to-transform-cebus-famed-carbon-market |work=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=January 12, 2021 |accessdate=February 16, 2021 }} to include other lifestyle and mixed-use developments within the market, as well as a transport hub which includes a water taxi that will connect to Mactan–Cebu International Airport.{{ cite news |title=Lifestyle, transit features eyed in new Carbon Market |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1885950/Cebu/Feature/Going-to-Carbon-will-be-more-than-just-going-to-the-market |work=SunStar |date=October 23, 2020 |accessdate=February 16, 2021 }}

File:Carbon Public Market.jpg

The market is housed in three structures namely Unit 1, Unit 2, and Unit 3, along the M.C. Briones St. in Barangay Ermita:

• Unit 1 – Wet market selling meat and seafood
• Unit 2 – Destroyed by a fire in 1998,{{cite news |last1=Pareja |first1=Jessica Ann |title=Unit 2 Carbon Market rebuilding underway |url=https://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2010/08/20/604109/unit-2-carbon-market-rebuilding-underway |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=The Philippine Star |date=20 August 2010}} reopened in 2022 as an interim market.{{cite news |title=Interim Market stalls in Carbon now open |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1919424/cebu/local-news/interim-market-stalls-in-carbon-now-open |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=SunStar |date=28 January 2022 |language=en}}
• Unit 3 – Fruits area. Second floor razed by fire in 2018.{{cite news |title=Fire destroys Unit III of Carbon Market |url=https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/205812/fire-destroys-unit-iii-of-carbon-market |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=Cebu Daily News |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=29 November 2018 |language=en}}

File:Carbon Market Freedom Park (Magallanes Street, Cebu City; 01-12-2024).jpg

• Freedom Park – named as Plaza Washington during the American colonial era, it was eventually renamed by then-Cebu governor Sergio Osmeña Jr. in 1951 to its current name. The name reflects it as a place where Cebuanos could freely exercise their freedoms and was the site of political rallies, religious gatherings, and debates, among other activities. The plot of land was originally owned by the Order of Augustinian Recollects (which run the University of San Jose–Recoletos across Freedom Park) to the Cebu City government, under the condition "that it be made as a park where people can exercise their constitutional right to free speech and to remain as such".{{ cite news |last=Lim |first=Cherry Ann T. |date=August 6, 2022 |title=New Freedom Park to open in October |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1937077/cebu/local-news/new-freedom-park-to-open-in-october |work=SunStar Cebu |accessdate=November 3, 2022 }}{{cite news |title=‘Freedom Park’ reopens amid stormy weather |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1944700/cebu/local-news/freedom-park-reopens-amid-stormy-weather |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=SunStar |date=28 October 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Tan |first1=Tito P. |title=Netizens share memories of Freedom Park |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1935483/cebu/local-news/netizens-share-memories-of-freedom-park |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=SunStar |date=20 July 2022 |language=en}} In the 1960s it was gradually integrated into the market, starting out with a few stalls, until the original park eventually vanished. Since the 1960s until the 2020s redevelopment, Freedom Park was known for its flower shops. With the redevelopment, the flower shops and other stalls in Freedom Park were demolished and repurposed back to its original intended use as a public park, along with a 15-meter tall obelisk as a new symbol for the park.

File:Carbon Market The Barracks (Magallanes Street, Cebu City; 01-12-2024).jpg

• Warwick Barracks – located between Freedom Park and the Carbon Market building, it was originally the called the "Post of Cebu", set up by the Americans in 1899 during their occupation of Cebu. In 1904, the name was changed into "Camp Warwick" to honor Captain Oliver Warwick who had been killed fighting Filipinos in Passi, Iloilo in 1899. A year later in 1905, it was renamed to its current name, the Warwick Barracks. After the Americans left, the Warwick Barracks were vacated and was gradually integrated into Carbon, and had also been used as a car park. After the redevelopment, Warwick Barracks will be repurposed as a retail area, and will be the location of the new Carbon Market main building{{cite news |last1=Quintas |first1=Kristine |title=Warwick Barracks to be configured |url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2014/01/24/1282498/warwick-barracks-be-configured |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=The Freeman |publisher=The Philippine Star |date=24 January 2014}} until 2022
• Senior Citizens' Park Chapel – a Roman Catholic chapel which is topped by a statue of the Santo Niño de Cebú.
• Pusô Village – named and designed after the pusô, a Filipino rice cake, this strip will house food and retail stalls not available in Carbon. It is located on the edge of Carbon beside the Compañía Marítima Building along the Cebu South Coastal Road.{{cite news |last1=Letigio |first1=Delta Dyrecka |title=Carbon Market’s Puso Village, mechanical parking to open soon |url=https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/452177/carbon-markets-puso-village-mechanical-parking-to-open-soon |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=Cebu Daily News |publisher=Philippine Daily Inquirer |date=9 July 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Tan |first1=Ivan Rey |title=Puso village to open in November 2022 |url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1944699/cebu/local-news/puso-village-to-open-in-november-2022 |access-date=1 November 2022 |work=SunStar |date=28 October 2022 |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Facebook|CarbonMarketCebu}}
• {{url|https://carbonmarketcebu.com/|Official website}}
• {{Commons-inline}}

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Category:Buildings and structures in Cebu City

Category:Retail markets in the Philippines

Category:Landmarks in the Philippines

Category:Visayan landmarks

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