Rules in passage of barangay parking ordinances proposed
25 March 2021 – The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance setting the guidelines for the enactment of parking ordinances in the city’s barangays.
Local legislators stated that the barangay, before submitting proposed ordinances relating to designated parking areas and prescribing parking fees, must secure the favorable endorsement from the City Engineer’s Office Transportation and Traffic Management Division (CEO-TTMD) certifying that the proposed parking area is part of the inventory of the said office for required parking; there must be public consultations that have been conducted and parking shall be on a first come, first serve basis.
The council added that the barangays may charge reasonable parking fees on facilities owned or managed by the same and that fees shall be approved by the majority of their constituents present during the conduct of the barangay general assembly where such issues will be presented.
Further, fees on regulated on-street parking shall be uniform based on approved city ordinance and that the same shall be based only on an hourly or overnight parking.
The council clarified that overnight parking shall start from 7 pm up to 7 am the following day and that the fees that shall be collected shall accrue to the exclusive fund of the barangays concerned.
According to the body, all signages and marking shall be uniform and that the CEOI-TTMD or the authorized office shall prepare and provide the design of the same that will be followed by the barangays.
The council pointed out that the barangays shall not legislate parking ordinances covering staging and loading areas designated for public utility vehicles; parking areas within parks or facilities owned or managed by the city or the national government; roads within the central business district as delineated by Ordinance No. 1, series of 2003 or the Baguio City Number Coding Scheme, except when included in the previous inventory, provided that the city will not designate the same as roadside parking to be regulated under Ordinance No. 68, series if 2020; allowing overnight parking on designated parking spaces for public utility vehicles or any motor vehicles granted with a franchise by the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and designating parking spaces for any person and the collection of parking fees on a daily or monthly basis.
The council tasked the CEO-TTMD to ensure and verse the faithful implementation of the provisions of the proposed measure and that it shall summarily remove parking or traffic signs or order the discontinuance of traffic regulations and collection of parking fees that are inconsistent and institute legal actions.
The council noted that the different city barangays had been submitting barangay ordinances concerning parking regulations and traffic schemes before the local legislative body which had been subjected to review where it was found out that there were different rates being charged among other differences that need to be ironed out by the enactment of the required rules and regulations for the said purpose. – Dexter A. See
