City Hall charges parking fees at downtown area

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By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Motor owners or drivers parking along downtown streets can expect to be approached by traffic cops who will ask for parking fees nowadays due to the “stricter” implementation of a recently-approved ordinance that amends another ordinance passed more than 10 years ago.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas approved City Regulation Ordinance (CRO) No. 2023-031 on March 13, and became effective on March 24, or 4 days after it was published in Daily Guardian’s March 20 issue.

CRO No. 2023-031 designates parking areas in the downtown and provides commensurate parking fees.

It amended CRO No. 2020-130, which was approved on December 10, 2020 and became effective on January 1, 2021.

CRO No. 2020-130 was also an amendment to CRO No. 2009-216, approved on May 27, 2009, during Treñas’ first term.

The latest changes to the parking ordinance include the transfer of collection duties from the City Treasurer’s Office to the Local Economic Enterprise Office (LEEO) and the deletion of overnight parking charges.

The Public Safety and Transportation Management Office (PSTMO) agents are still empowered to collect, so long as they are authorized by the LEEO.

The following are the designated parking areas in the city, where authorized PSTMO personnel will be tasked to approach parking vehicles:

–          Calasanz Street fronting San Jose Church, perpendicular parking on both sides;

–          Ortiz Street, parallel parking on both sides;

–          Guanco Street, diagonal parking on the left side (across the Iloilo Central Market);

–          Aldeguer Street, diagonal parking on the left side (across the Iloilo Central Market);

–          Arsenal Street, parallel parking on both sides;

–          Solis Street, parallel parking on both sides;

–          Zamora Street, parallel parking on both sides; and

–          Macario Peralta Street, parallel parking on both sides.

Parking is explicitly and absolutely prohibited by the ordinance on the right sides of Guanco and Aldeguer streets, as well as the portions of Macario Peralta Street fronting the Office of the Lone District Representative and the Bureau of Fire Protection station.

The ordinance provides for the following parking fees:

–          Single motorcycles – ₱15.00 for the first 2 hours, and ₱5.00 per hour for every succeeding hour;

–          Three-wheeled vehicles (tricycles) – ₱20.00 for the first 2 hours, and ₱5.00 per hour for every succeeding hour;

–          Light vehicles (sedans, SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, jeepneys) – ₱25.00 for the first 2 hours, and ₱5.00 per hour for every succeeding hour; and

–          Medium vehicles (Delivery trucks) – ₱30.00 for the first 2 hours, and ₱5.00 per hour for every succeeding hour.

Iloilo City government employees and officials parking at Calasanz Street who will report to work at the city hall are exempted from paying the fees.

Proper implementation of the new ordinance is expected to start on Monday, May 15.

In a press conference on Friday, PSTMO chief Jeck Conlu said that this would be the first time that the parking fee ordinance would actually be implemented.

He assured that PSTMO personnel to be deployed will undergo training on the ordinance and its implementation, and stated that the LEEO is also having an urgent hiring blitz to recruit more parking attendants.

“Cebu City and Metro Manila cities have been implementing [paid parking] since 2009. We have been very late because we are only implementing just now. We haven’t changed the areas where parking fees will be charged, so there would be no changes to the flow of [vehicular] traffic. The only difference now is that we have a paid parking ordinance [to be implemented],” said Conlu.

LEEO chief Maricel Mabaquiao said that the list of parking areas for parking fee charges was culled from their assessment of streets where parking volume is denser.

Mabaquiao added that two personnel per shift will be deployed to the designated parking areas and collect the fees.

Flyers have already been distributed to establishment owners, personnel, and those parking in those areas in the last week.

Mabaquiao said signages will be gradually installed in the next few weeks starting next week.

In this implementation, the mayor cited the examples of the cities of Cebu, Manila, and Makati which have also been collecting parking fees on their public roadways.

He also shared his hope that collections from this new ordinance would help alleviate the diminished National Tax Allocation (NTA) of the city.

Daily Guardian reported last year that the city lost up to ₱232 million in its NTA due to the onslaught of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in 2020.

“We need additional income because the city has a lot of programs, and at the same time, we also need to regulate vehicles parking in the streets. This is not expensive, but I think we need to earn to help with the expenses of the city,” he remarked.

“With the Mandanas [ruling], theoretically, we would have increased [the city’s NTA]. Unfortunately, we got hit by COVID-19. The income of the city and the national government both decreased, and our [NTA share] went down greatly,” he added.

Treñas said that all public markets will be having parking areas, except for Mandurriao which he said was uncertain, as it was being helmed by the Department of Public Works and Highways and not the city government.

He likewise remarked that it would be prime for upcoming projects and programs, including procurement of medicines, construction of school facilities, and another slaughterhouse facility.