THE City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance granting the Baguio City Police Office–Traffic Management Branch (BCPO-TMB) a 25 percent share of fines from traffic violations.
Authored by Councilor Leandro Yangot, Jr., the ordinance states the 25 percent share of the police will be deposited or credited by the local government to the account of the BCPO-TMB under its maintenance and other operating expenses and will be disbursed pursuant to the usual accounting and auditing rules and procedures.
Yangot claimed the collections from traffic violations are among notable sources of revenue of the local government and the increasing collections from traffic violations can be attributed to the continuous and relentless efforts of the BCPO-TMB personnel.
He, however, explained in the performance of the mandates of the BCPO-TMB, it is apparent expenses incurred in its various operations could exceed their budgeted operational expenses which include, among others, the maintenance of their motor vehicles that are utilized on a 24-hour basis.
According to Yangot, once the allocated budget for vehicle maintenance is depleted, the BCPO-TMB personnel performance will definitely be adversely affected as the vehicles cannot be used for their operations and unnecessary delay in the repairs of the said vehicles will surely render the use of said vehicles futile.
Yangot claimed there is a need for the local government to provide additional sources of funds of the BCPO-TMB personnel by granting them a 25-percent share from the traffic violation collections as stand-by funds to be used when for their sustained traffic management operations and thus contribute to the improvement of the traffic situation around the city.
He asserted the prescribed share of the BCPO-TMB from the fees will only be used by the office for their maintenance and other operating expenses and not for any other purpose.
Yangot emphasized other highly urbanized cities around the country are providing their respective traffic offices a share from the gross collections on traffic violations, thus, such best practice can be adopted by the city to motivate traffic enforcers to work double time in easing the worsening traffic congestions around the city.
The proposed ordinance was referred by the local legislative body to the committee on public utilities, traffic and transport legislation. (PR)