IN RESPONSE to the proposed ordinance authored by City Councilors Edgar Avila and Benny Bomogao requiring all commercial establishments in the City of Baguio to provide free parking to its patrons and customers, SM City Baguio has submitted its position paper on the matter respectfully, opposing the said proposed measure.
SM City Baguio, through its mall manager Rona Vida Correa, clarified that while it shares the local sanggunian’s objective of providing for the welfare and comfort to the people of Baguio and while it is also for the same reason that the said mall has sought to maintain efficient and economical parking facilities within its premise -- taking note of the scarcity of available parking spaces along Session Road and in its immediate vicinity -- it is of the view that the collection of reasonable parking fees is necessary in order to cover the costs of the maintenance and administration of the said parking facilities. It added that the said parking fees that they are charging are not meant and intended to be an additional burden to its customers, instead it implements schemes designed to entitle its customers to free parking such as when customers earn a certain number of points through their purchases which subsequently entitles them to free parking using their SM Advantage Card or Prestige Card.
Relative to this, SM City Baguio, as contained in their letter to the Sangguniang Panlungsod, pointed out that as to the issue of whether a local law can be passed to compel commercial establishments to provide free parking within their premises, there is existing jurisprudence that has already ruled out such possibility, citing a Supreme Court decision in the case of the Office of the Solicitor General vs SM Prime Holdings Inc., et al (G.R. No. 177056 18 September 2009) where the ruling is that such law is invalid since it would be tantamount to an unlawful taking or confiscation of private property.
The Supreme Court in that decision held that, “Although in the present case, title to and/or possession of the parking facilities remain/s with the respondents, and the prohibition against their collection of parking fees from the public, for the use of the said facilities, is already tantamount to a taking or confiscation of their properties. The State is not only requiring that respondents devote a portion of the latter’s properties for the use as parking spaces, but is also mandating that they give the public access to said parking spaces for free. Such is already an excessive intrusion into the property rights of respondents. Not only are they being deprived of the right to use a portion of their properties as they wish, they are further prohibited from profiting from its use or even just recovering therefrom the expenses for the maintenance and operation of the required parking facilities.”
In this light, SM City Baguio through its mall manager is maintaining its position to respectfully oppose the passage of the said proposed ordinance that would mandate all commercial establishments in the City of Baguio to provide free parking spaces to its customers and clients, although likewise clarifying that it is willing to further discuss other measures with the Sangguniang Panlungsod in order to better serve the interests of the community.
Finally, it can be recalled that during the previous regular session of the City Council last April 3, 2017, when the matter was taken up, it was the consensus of the members to refer back the proposed measure to the committee on laws for it to consider the manifestations made during the discussion as well as the position papers to be submitted by the concerned commercial establishments in the city.