Illegal Baguio barkers barred; penalties slated

BAGUIO CITY -- The City Council, Monday approved on first reading an ordinance prohibiting any person from performing the role of a barker in any place within the city which is not designated as terminal and providing penalties for violation of the said measure.
    Under the proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr., it will be prohibited for any person to perform the role of a barker in any place within the city which is not designated as a terminal of buses, jeepneys and taxis.
    The ordinance tasked the chief of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), the head of the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) and all punong barangays to be responsible for the strict implementation of the said prohibition.
    Any person found to be violating the ordinance shall be penalized with a fine of P1,000 or community service of 5 days for the first offense; a fine of P3,000 or community service of 15 days for the second offense and a fine of P5,000 or imprisonment of 30 days or both at the discretion of the court.
    According to the proponent, in the exercise of its police power, the local legislative body may lay down and pass laws to promote the health, morals, education, good order or safety and the general welfare of the people.

    In order to pave the way for the regressing traffic situation and to forestall the occurrence of road mishaps, strict measures are necessary to remove any prospective form of danger.

    Further, in an impulse to make money, unidentified individuals, particularly bystanders and even minors who perform the role of bakers in any place in the city roads, especially in densely populated areas, street intersections, and common routes of passenger vehicles.

    The body said unidentified individuals shout for future passengers to ride while requiring drivers to park their vehicles along streets for several minutes and that the same is in exchange for a fee from concerned drivers.

    Correspondingly, other public utility vehicles mimic this unwritten precept in exchange for a full load of passengers before they maneuver back to their points of destination in the various city barangays.

    The proponent said this practice of acting as barker carries public hazard and causes traffic gridlock, most notably to pedestrians, commuters and motorists.