Congress urged: Pass no parking, no register law

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged Congress to pass a law that will include private vehicle owners in the government’s no parking, no registration policy to help reduce the unabated use of roads as parking spaces in the different parts of the country.

The local chief executive said it was unfortunate private vehicles are not included in the coverage of the no parking, no registration policy that is why people without available parking spaces within their houses and properties simply buy vehicles and make use of roads fronting their houses as their parking areas that contribute in constricting traffic in the barangays.

“Congress must already pass a law to expand the coverage of the no parking, no registration policy so that private vehicle owners will be compelled to have their own parking areas before they will be allowed to own vehicles,” Domogan said.

He added the no parking, no registration policy covers only those individuals wanting to own public utility vehicles but the said policy is always being circumvented by unscrupulous individuals wanting to own public utility vehicles.

According to him, one of the unwanted practice of some unscrupulous individuals is they take pictures of the parking spaces of their neighbors or available open spaces near their houses to be shown as proof of their available parking spaces for the registration of their public utility vehicles but the truth is that their vehicles are parked on roads fronting their houses.

He called on concerned government agencies to conduct due diligence in the inspection of the photographs being shown to them by applicants of public utility owners as their parking spaces to check the veracity of what are being presented to them as pieces of evidence.

Domogan said significant increase in volume of vehicles in the city without parking spaces has greatly contributed in the worsening traffic congestions not only in the city proper but also in most of the barangays considering that the narrow roads and streets are being used as parking areas of motor vehicle owners.

He added there is need for concerned government agencies to be strict in the implementation of the no parking, no registration policy for applicants of certificates of convenience to make sure that what they are declaring as their parking spaces will be true so as not to be part of the problems of the local government in term of the wayward parking of vehicles along national, city and barangay roads.

He said it should be the obligation of motor vehicle owners to have their own parking spaces and not for them to burden the government and residents in their barangays to suffer the consequences of their use of roads as the parking areas for their vehicles, citing that people should not be made to suffer the inability of motor vehicles to find sufficient parking areas for their vehicles.

He appealed to vehicle owners to comply with the implementation of the anti-road obstruction order for the convenience of the greater majority of the populace in all the city’s barangays.