City market big investors / Going after PUVs, smokers

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY - The market development project has attracted large scale investors like Robinsons and SM corporations, Mayor Benjamin Magalong bared in the weekly Management Committee meeting Feb. 11.

The mayor said Robinsons submitted an unsolicited proposal which it will present to city officials on Feb. 14 while SM served notice to tender its own offer next week for presentation on Feb. 17.

The city expects to receive more proposals for the multi-billion venture envisioned to transform the public market into one of the best trading centers in the country.

All of these will be evaluated by the city's Public-Private Partnership for the People (P4) selection committee headed by City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente and the technical working group (TWG) on market development led by Coun. Mylen Yaranon to determine the viability of the offers vis-a-vis the city's requirements.

The mayor earlier said the city will go for a deal that would not require cash investment and one that would ensure the welfare of the existing leaseholders numbering around 4,000.

The city decided to forgo with the loan scheme to implement the project in favor of the PPP joint venture modality.

The mayor assured that under such development mode, the vendors' cooperative will still be involved as a partner in the deal that the city will strike up with the winning developer.

Last January, the TWG presented the final market development plan for the three hectare complex which Yaranon said was inclusive of the inputs of the stakeholders from the series of consultations conducted.

The architectural design of the market redevelopment plan which was approved by the city council through Resolution No. 39-2020 provides for a seven-storey structure including two underground floors to house the vendors with provisions for parking, sewage treatment plant, materials recovery facility and open space comprising 30 percent of the area for alleys and parks.

The project estimated to cost at least P2.5 billion is one of the city’s priorities included in the 15-point core collective agenda of the present administration.

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A joint inspection led by Mayor Magalong went after public utility vehicles without garages yielding 90 units found parked along roads in various barangays late evening last Feb. 7.

The mayor said the joint PUV garage monitoring was undertaken from 10:15pm Feb. 7 to 12:30am Feb. 8 along Bayan Park, East Modern Site, Lopez Jaena, Ledesma St. Aurora Hill, South and North Sanitary, Trancoville, New Lucban, Honeymoon and Holygost, M. Roxas and Lower Brookside.

Of the 90 PUVs found occupying portions of roads as garage, 67 were public utility jeepneys and 23 were taxi units.

The violations were recorded and documented and owners of the PUVs will be penalized, according to the mayor

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Cordillera (LTFRB-CAR) Regional Director Lalaine Sobremonte, Baguio City Police Office Traffic Enforcement Unit (BCPO-TEU) Chief P/Maj. Oliver Panabang and City Engineering Office Traffic Office Head Engr. Richard Lardizabal joined the inspection.

The garage monitoring is in line with LTFRB Memorandum Circular No. 2017-027 which lays down the implementing guidelines for garages pursuant to Department Order No. 2017-011 or the Omnibus Franchising Guidelines (OFG).

The OFG particularly subsections 2.2.1 to 2.2.9 requires operators of PUVs to provide garages for their units subject to regulations. 

The operators will be slapped with illegal parking charges on the part of the city and franchise violation on the part of the LTFRB. – Aileen P. Refuerzo

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Smoke-Free Ordinance fine dodgers are not yet off the hook.

Noting the big number of violators neglecting to settle their Smoke-Free fines, Mayor Benjamin Magalong issued notices of non-payment or a sort of demand letter to the concerned individuals and establishments.

As this developed, the mayor-led Smoke-Free Baguio Task Force agreed to accept blood donation as a form of community service as reparation for violations. 

The first violator to opt for blood donation was caught vaping last Feb. 3 by community enforcers at Brgy. T. Alonzo and went to the Philippine National Red Cross Baguio Feb. 4 to donate his type A blood which at that moment was badly needed at the Red Cross.

The demand notices were delivered starting Feb. 14 by the Public Order and Safety Division enforcement unit under Security Officer II Daryll Longid to hundreds of violators with known addresses while those with incomplete ones will be coursed through the barangays.

It was upon Longid’s insistence that the task force agreed to go after the violators and make them pay their penalty or face a lawsuit.

Longid told the recent quarterly meeting of the task force of his concern over the low fine payment rate especially for the individual violators, a complacency which he said was caused by nsufficient follow through action on the city’s end.

“It’s likely that the violators are acquainted with one another and if word got around that nothing happened to one violator after failing to pay the fine, then the other violators will be emboldened to also ignore it so we might as well do something,” Longid said.

As per the POSD’s record of smoke-free violations from June 1, 2019 to Feb. 10, 2020, only 17 percent of individual violators or 625 out of the 3,627 paid their fines at the City Treasury Office.

As to the establishments, 40 percent or 544 of the 1,152 settled their fines.

“You are expected to comply and pay the said penalty within five working days from receipt of letter. Your refusal to pay or comply with the law within the given period will constrain the city to file appropriate cases and exercise all other legal remedies against you,” the mayor noted in the demand letter.

Apart from paying the penalties, violators may avail of community service once as reparation as the task force agreed that an eight hour community service is equivalent to P1,000, the fine for first offense.

Community service is done by way of picking up trash at a designated spot with the supervision of the POSD enforcers or again, they can donate blood.