BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said he will no longer issue any further suspension to the full implementation of the provisions of Ordinance No. 05, series of 2017 or the city’s new truck ban ordinance as it will now be up to the local legislative body to appreciate the merits of the numerous petitions for exemption being sought by some sectors.
While he finds merit to the arguments raised by the petitioners who met with him several times regarding the exemption to be granted to them, the local chief executive pointed out he is not empowered by the new truck ban ordinance to grant the necessary exemptions to those which are qualified to be exempted from the coverage of the ordinance
“We do not know what our local legislators are thinking about the various petitions for exemption from the coverage of the ordinance that were submitted to us. We certainly find merit to the reasons raised by the petitioners but the ordinance does not even provide the authority for the local chief executive to grant the exemption that is why we leave the matter to the sound discretion of the members of the local legislative body,” Domogan stressed.
He said Administrative Order No. 50, series of 2017 which outlined the details of the trucks that will be exempted from the coverage of the new truck ban ordinance was submitted to the local legislative body last week yet and he is leaving the issue for them to decide as he does not understand why the body failed to act on this very important concern.
According to him, vegetable and cutflower truckers and traders, water delivery companies and mining companies must seek the consideration of the local legislative body to fast-track their action on the exemptions as earlier agreed upon to prevent unnecessary delaying the transport of perishable agricultural crops from the La Trinidad vegetable trading post to the lowland and Metro Manila markets and mineral ore concentrate from the mine sites in Benguet to their Poro Point stations in San Fernando, La Union.
Domogan underscored vegetable and cutflower, as well as mining companies, have valid reasons which to him is legitimate that is why he suspended the implementation of the truck ban ordinance for four consecutive times while awaiting the supposed positive action of the city council on the administrative order that outlined the details of the exemption to be granted to certain truckers.
However, for water delivery trucks, he advised owners of water delivery companies to continue negotiating with their big clients for delivery schedule adjustments outside the truck ban to help reduce the traffic congestions during rush hours although water delivery trucks will be exempted from the coverage of the truck ban ordinance as water is an important basic need of people.
Under the new truck ban ordinance, 6-wheeler trucks having a gross weight of more than 4,500 kilos, heavy equipment, trailer and dump trucks are prohibited from plying the city’s streets from 6 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 9 pm daily and that trucks that will be affected ban should pass through available alternate routes.
By Dexter A. See
