Monday, June 16, 2008
Council to limit passage on bridges
THE CEBU City Council last week disapproved a Barangay Pulangbato ordinance that sought to ban vehicles weighing more than 10 tons from passing two box culvert bridges to protect the structures.
But the council acknowledged the wisdom of the barangay measure and will, instead, be the one to craft the ordinance.
The council adopted the report of the committee on laws, ordinances, public accountability and good government, which said that regulating the use of streets and bridges is beyond the powers of the barangays.
Authority
The authority, the committee said, is in the hands of the city council, as stipulated under Section 458 of the Local Government Code.
“It is the Sangguniang Panlungsod that has the power to ‘regulate the use of streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, bridges, parks and other public places’,” the committee said.
City Councilor Edgardo Labella, committee head, said there is no similar provision in the code that gives barangays such power.
The closest provision, the councilor said, is paragraph 7 of Section 391, where barangays can regulate the use of “multi-purpose halls, multi-purpose pavements, grain or copra dryers, patios, and other post-harvest facilities, barangay waterworks, barangay markets, parking areas or similar facilities.”
“Hence, the committee finds the subject ordinance as ultra vires on the part of Barangay Pulangbato, Cebu City,” Labella said.
City Councilor Augustus Pe, Jr., who helped in the construction of the two Pulangbato bridges, said he was happy that the barangay recognized the importance of the two projects.
Necessary
“I do believe that there should be an ordinance to protect the bridges. These are just short bridges. And we are building another connecting (Barangay) Pit-os and Pulangbato for P13 million,” he said.
Labella said regulation of the use of the bridges is necessary, but doing it cannot be done illegally.
“To effectuate the much needed regulation, the committee recommends that a Cebu City ordinance be passed to regulate the use of the subject bridges,” he said. (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 16, 2008 issue)
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