CITOM wants higher parking fees

CEBU, Philippines - Motorists who park their vehicles in any designated parking areas beside the streets of Cebu City may soon have to pay more if the recommendation of the City Traffic Operations Management to increase the parking fee from P15 per hour to P20 will be approved by the City Council.

The CITOM Board headed by Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem recommended that the existing P15 parking fee per hour per vehicle be increased to P20 per hour to discourage motorists from parking their vehicles for a long time and give the others the chance to park.

Councilors Richard Osmeña and Augustus Pe Jr, chairmen of the City Council’s committee on traffic management and peace and order, respectively, explained that the city’s pay parking area can no longer cope with the increasing number of vehicles.

The local government units are empowered to regulate the roads within its territorial jurisdiction as well as collect of fees from designated parking areas.

City Ordinance 2104 which was approved by former Mayor Tomas Osmeña in January 8, 2007 only allowed the collection of a P15 parking fee for every vehicle for one hour of parking at designated areas.

In yesterday’s regular session, city legislators decided to refer the proposed amendment of City Ordinance 2104 to the Committee on Laws headed by Councilor Edgardo Labella.

If Labella’s committee approves the proposed measure it will be recommended for a public hearing.

During the public hearing, any interested persons or affected parties like the motorists can attend and give their sentiments.

The city legislators will tackle the sentiments of those concerned during the final deliberation of the proposed ordinance whether or not to approve the suggested amount of increase.

Records show that CITOM collected P33.2 million in parking fees last year.

Osmeña and Pe believe that if the proposed increase of parking fees will be implemented, many motorists will no longer park their vehicles for so long at the designated parking areas to avoid paying huge fees. — /BRP (FREEMAN)