SP probes operation of Dagupan Holding Area
WHO is raking in the earnings from the Dagupan Holding Area for public utility vehicles on M.H. del Pilar Street?
This is yet another question that the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) wants an answer to after the matter inadvertently cropped up in last session of the body.
Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) chief Robert Erfe Mejia, appearing before the council last week, mentioned the holding area, located at what used to be the Pantranco Terminal, following another issue raised by a transport group.
Councilor Luis Samson Jr. then asked Mejia who actually owns and operates the holding area.
The POSO chief said the one managing the holding area is former Barangay II Chairman Noel Melecio, reportedly a political ally of Mayor Benjamin Lim.
The reply elicited smirks from some councilors present.
The SP has invited the head of the One-Stop-Business Center, Carmen Olpindo, anew to clarify if the Dagupan Holding Area, which had been in operation since early 2000, is registered as a corporation and if so whether it has a mayor’s permit, business permit and other requirements for a business operation.
Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, chair of the SP, noted that the holding area enjoys brisk business daily from payments made by public utility vehicles that station there.
AUTOPRO
Mejia cited the Dagupan Holding Area in the discussion of the jeepney drivers complaint about the lack of loading/unloading areas in the city.
Mejia said that loading and unloading of passengers in prohibited areas, i.e., in the middle of the road, on pedestrian lanes, intersections and bridge approach, as the most common traffic violations committed in the city.
The city engineer’s office had proposed the construction of 24 loading and unloading areas in the central business district but only about six have been installed.
The Alliance of United Transport Organization Provincewide (AutoPro) has called for an amendment of certain provision of the Revised Comprehensive and Mandatory Traffic Code, which the group claims to be unfairly detrimental to its members.
Benny Aquino, AutoPro president, said jeepney drivers are faced with stiff penalties given the incremental fines for successive violations as provided in Traffic Ordinance No. 1784-2002.
The ordinance states that penalties for loading and unloading in prohibited areas are P100 (first offense), P300 (second), P500 (third), and for the fourth offense, P500 and revocation of license.
Every violation will be counted relative to the previous one, regardless of the duration taken between the offenses.
The group is seeking to amend the penalty clause by requesting the city council to pass an ordinance that will make a violation counted only within a 30-day period; thus, any violation after that period will again be considered as first offense.
The city council approved the ordinances in 2008 and in 2009 amending the traffic code but these had expired and never amended since.
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