V-hire terminal operation
This seems to be another case of the end being used to justify the means. Last Feb. 28, Cebu City Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. delivered a privilege speech calling for the closure of the van-for-hire (V-hire) terminal now operating at the site of the demolished CitiCenter structure in Barangay Kamagayan. A gasoline “station” is also supposedly operating there.
The concerns raised by Alcover were legitimate. Aside from questioning the legality of the operation of the terminal, which is being used by around 150 V-hires and hundreds of commuters daily, he also raised the matter of hygiene. As for the gasoline “station,” its safety and legality are the issues.
Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella actually questioned the legality of the V-hire terminal operation as early as September last year when the V-hires were transferred in Kamagayan from their old parking area in the vicinity of the old Compania Maritima. Among the requirements he mentioned were approval from the City’s terminal accreditation board and a resolution by the Cebu City Council.
Recently, the City Treasurer’s Office reported to Mayor Tomas Osmeña that City Hall earned since November last year at least P1.2 million in miscellaneous fees for the use by V-hires of the said “terminal.” (That fees were already collected means the terminal’s operation is no longer experimental, which was what City Hall claimed in September.)
Osmeña then said that the revenues generated justified his decision to allow the operation of the terminal—-which does not follow, of course, as revenue generation does not legalize what is illegal because of the failure to follow mandated procedures. Neither does the argument that “the people like it.” Incidentally, the operation of the gasoline “station” at the site wasn’t mentioned.
If the city government wants to legitimize the operation of the terminal, then it must follow the rules and adhere to the standard. This is not only about allowing V-hires and commuters to use a city-owned vacant lot. It is also about getting approval from concerned government entities, setting up needed facilities, standardizing fees, etc.