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Thursday, May 15, 2003
City awaits ruling on Jadewell MOA
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
LAWYER Melchor Rabanes, City Legal Office OIC, said Wednesday the City Government can only take a "wait and see" stance on the ongoing Jadewell operations, pending the issuance of an Appelate Court decision, on moves of the City Council to rescind the existing city-Jadewell memorandum of agreement.
This was bared, just as some members of the City Council resolved to order Jadewell Parking Systems Corporation to stop their towing and clamping operations on Tuesday, saying that the private firm was not authorized to do so.
Norma Tan, Jadewell-Baguio general manager, pointed out that "the Supreme Court, in handing down their rulings, sustained two earlier Regional Trial Court decisions regarding the legality and constitutionality of our MOA with the city government. What we are only waiting for is the decision of the Court of Appeals in the case filed against us by the City Council and the city government of Baguio regarding their moves to rescind the MOA."
"By their two decisions, the Supreme Court also ruled that clamping and towing are legitimate tools of enforcement, especially in the earlier case filed against us by Nelia Cid," Tan stressed.
But Councilor Braulio Yaranon, former Regional Trial Court judge, stressed that the Cid case cannot speak for the whole of Baguio. "Nelia Cid is only one person and does not represent the whole citizenry of the city," adding that Cid lost her petition not on the merit of her case against Jadewell but on technicalities.
Another City Hall source, however, opined that the decision on Cid's case may serve as a precedent for the courts in issuing future rulings relative to clamping and towing of illegally-parked vehicles in Baguio.
Meanwhile, Councilor Delfin Balajadia, who chairs the council's Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation & Traffic Legislation, claimed that Jadewell had only been delegated the authority to collect regulatory fees along streets and roads designated by the city government for pay parking purposes.
"Did we already delegate the authority for them to oversee areas where no parking is allowed?" he inquired from Senior Insp. Elmer Cereno, chief of the Baguio City Police Office Traffic Management Branch.
But Tan contended that pay parking along Baguio's designated roads "cannot be compared to a cake."
"Papaano na yun? Para na bang cake na ipapa-slice natin ang kalsada? Does this mean that along Session Road, for instance, our personnel can only take care of pay parking areas and does not have any authority to enforce the city's parking rules and regulations in `no parking' and `loading/unloading' areas?" she asked. "That would just be tantamount to supporting the wrong speculation of some Baguio motorists and vehicle owners, that Jadewell only operates here in Baguio to collect parking fees, and not to help the city government instill traffic and parking discipline among residents and visitors."
She stressed that Section 13 of the pay parking MOA provides that any vehicle may be rendered immobile when it is parked in contravention to any of its provisions and "the parking attendant or any person authorized in their behalf by the private parking operator may render such motor vehicle immobile by having (it) chained and locked by the use of any device on such vehicle as the private parking operator may think fit and no person shall remove such vehicle or tamper with the chain and lock."
On towing, Section 20 of the same MOA also states that, "Any provisions of existing ordinances notwithstanding, all motor vehicles illegally parked or stalled on any street, road or thoroughfare within the city of Baguio not otherwise designated as a parking space, shall be towed to designated impounding areas (and may) be released only to the owners, operators, drivers or duly authorized claimants upon payment of the corresponding towage and impounding fees."
But some councilors iterated that Jadewell is not even authorized to clamp and tow vehicles because its personnel are not and cannot be deputized by the Department of Transportation and Communications.
(May 15, 2003 issue)
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