Proposed ban of grazing animals, parked cars in parks unnecessary

The Cebu City Council approved a report of the committee on laws describing as unnecessary the proposed ordinance prohibiting the use of public properties as parking areas and grazing sites for animals.

The report said that Councilor Nestor Archival’s proposed measure, entitled Anti-Grazing Ordinance, is not needed anymore because there are existing ordinances that can address these concerns.

All it takes, the committee said, is the reawakening of existing laws. It is also about time that the council exercises its “oversight function” by monitoring how enacted ordinances have been implemented by the different agencies tasked to enforce them, said the committee.

“The effort to keep our public plazas/parks and playgrounds clean and sanitary is very commendable. But, the enactment of yet another ordinance that only reiterates the mandate or objective of existing ordinances and laws will not be sufficient ... not really necessary,” the committee report reads.

The committee further said that the proposed law will only add up to the countless number of forgotten and sleeping ordinances in the city.

If the concern of the proposal, for example, is on beautification and sanitation of the city’s parks and playgrounds, then what the council will do is to approve a resolution “asking how existing ordinances regulating the use of parks and playgrounds” have been enforced, or why these were not enforced at all, said the committee. 

On private vehicles parked in parks, the committee also said that a new law is no longer necessary because it is already within the powers of the Parks and Playgrounds Commission to impose the prohibition. This commission has the power to regulate the use of parks and playgrounds in the city, the committee said.

The committe however clarified that there is no legal impediment to approve the Archival proposal, but it recommended the holding of a public hearing to hear the views of the stakeholders on the matter. — Joeberth M. Ocao/RAE