Rama wants to improve car towing measure

Rama wants to improve car towing measure



ACTING Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants City Hall consultants to simplify the guidelines on the car towing of vehicles to make sure the City will no longer be bombarded with complaints from motorists.



For Rama, all vehicles that are a public nuisance or obstruct traffic should be towed, including the units of drivers who disobey traffic laws.



For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter



He also wants to do away with the provision on the need to warn erring drivers through a public address system or siren, as recommended by city consultants.



“When it constitutes nuisance per se, there is no need for an announcement,” Rama told a news conference yesterday.



A member of the opposition, however, dismissed the accomplishments reported by Rama during the inaugural session. Barangay Tinago Councilor Joel Garganera focused his criticism on Cebu City’s towing ordinance.



An ad hoc committee composed of City Hall consultants submitted to the City Council last June 17 its recommendations regarding the car towing of vehicles, as well as guidelines on the operations of private car towing companies.



But yesterday, Rama said the guidelines should be reviewed and simplified before the council drafts and approves a new towing ordinance.



This time, some city councilors and City Traffic and Operations Management (Citom) officials were asked to help simplify the guidelines and ordinance.



The council, he said, will fine-tune the guidelines and the towing ordinance, which will be one of the important legislation they will work on before the final year of their term ends.



“We will work on the guidelines on car towing, and the ordinance that will clearly spell out the car towing procedures, that is effective and enforceable and will leave no room for (people) to make their own interpretation,” said Rama.



The acting mayor said he requested the consultants to revise the guidelines and recommendations they proposed, which are still being reviewed by the council committee on laws.



“The report says there are 34 bases for the car towing of vehicles under the existing towing ordinances... We have to simplify it so that when we implement, wala na’y away ang driver and enforcer. We have to revisit the ordinance and simplify the situation when car towing will be applicable,” he said.



Challenge



The recommendations and guidelines were made after a thorough review of all towing ordinances by the committee, following the numerous complaints raised against the operations of private towing firms.



Rama said the ad hoc committee’s report was not supposed to be tackled by the council yet since he still had to review it.



But the report was inadvertently included in the council session agenda last June 17.



Yesterday, Garganera questioned the accomplishments reported by Rama, saying he based the report on ventures such as the South Road Properties (SRP) and not on the improvement of basic services.



Garganera said yesterday that he is giving Rama and the councilors a year to prove that they are not “lapdogs and stamp pads.”



Garganera said that last week, initial findings of the Commission on Audit 7 indicated that the car towing companies violated government laws for not submitting a report on its earnings to the city government. (LCR/With JKV)



I never wanted the car towing company they hired because they dont care about what car they are towing.

Source: