Labella to regulate habalhabal operations

CEBU, Philippines — To put order in the streets, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said his administration will regulate the motorcycle-for-hire, locally known as habalhabal operations.

The mayor met some of the members of Cebu City United Riders Club at the Barangay San Jose Community Stage last Sunday to explain the need to regulate them.

“I told them that somehow they will be regulated so that there will be no anarchy in the city’s streets. They are really agreeable,” he said.

Labella said he will ask either Councilors Joel Garganera or Raymond Alvin Garcia to reintroduce the rejected proposal of former councilor Pastor Alcover, Jr. which aimed to regulate the operations of habalhabal in the city.

Labella believed that these habalhabal drivers will be more responsible once the city will regulate and monitor them.

The mayor said one provision of the proposal of Alcover was to require habalhabal drivers to register in their respective barangays so they will be identified and monitored.

Alcover said the previous proposed ordinance was rejected that is why he proposed for a new one. The previous ordinance, he said, was to grant the Cebu City Government the authority to issue local regulatory franchise to operators of motorcycles-for-hire. It had several legal questions, he said.

Alcover had proposed two ordinances when he was still a member at the City Council. The first ordinance was aiming to grant the Cebu City government the authority to issue local regulatory franchise to operators of motorcycles-for-hire but it was rejected.

The second proposal, which aims to regulate the operations of habalhabal, lacked time because it was submitted months before the elections.

Under the second proposal, the city will require habalhabal operators to maintain its vehicles and to ensure that drivers are well-trained so that the safety of the passengers will be assured.

It was also stated in the proposal that the city will only be involved in the regulation and the issuance of certificate of registration/permit to operate habalhabal without interference to the registration of these vehicles under the Land Transportation Office and the Land Transportation Franchise and Regulatory Board.

It added that drivers and operators of habalhabal will soon be paying from P250 to P500 as annual registration fees.

Labella said the city needs to recognize the existence of the habalhabal operations while the legalization is still pending.

“Although it cannot be allowed but it’s like a necessary thing that is really not supposedly allowed but that is the cheapest mode of transportation especially in the mountain barangay,” he said, adding that there is no efficient mass transport system in the city as of now. (FREEMAN)