Increased fines for illegal parking in Baguio pushed

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged passage of pending proposals in the local legislative body to increase penalty of violators of illegal parking of motor vehicles and obstruction to smooth flow of traffic.

He mayor said this will discipline vehicle owners park in designated parking areas.

Domogan said increase in fines against owners of motor vehicles who park their cars anywhere will help in addressing violations against the city’s anti-road obstruction policy.

“We hope that our city councilors will pass the pending ordinance increasing the penalty for violators of illegal parking and obstruction so that hard-headed motorists will be disciplined in haphazardly parking their motor vehicles in areas that are not designated for parking not only in the central business district but also in the city’s one hundred twenty eight barangays,” Domogan said.

Earlier, some local legislators filed a proposed ordinance increasing the penalty of violators of illegal parking and obstruction from P150 to P750.

However, based on the results of the public hearing conducted by the local legislative body regarding the pending proposal, various sectors in the city agreed to lower the penalty to P500, thus, the proposal will be calendared for deliberations by the local legislative body for second and third readings.

According to him, numerous motorists willfully violate illegal parking and obstruction laws by removing license plates of their illegally parked vehicles which leave apprehending law enforcers or the deputized agents with no recourse in imposing the penalties against the violators.

While it is true that there are insufficient parking spaces around the city, Domogan said this should not be a reason for motor vehicle owners to park their vehicles in non-designated parking spaces and obstruct roads.

               Domogan issued several administrative orders that deputized barangay officials to strictly implement the city’s anti-road obstruction policy following complaints from residents regarding proliferation of illegally parked motor vehicles.

He said one major problem of the local government is availability of sufficient parking areas around the city because of the influx of visitors city during weekends and holidays.

Aside from compelling building owners to revert their spaces that were converted to commercial areas to their original parking slots, the local government is also contemplating on putting up multi-level parking structures in strategic areas around the city which could be used by motorists as parking areas to rid the major roads from monstrous traffic congestion. -- Dexter A. See