131 vehicles clamped for overnight parking
In just six days, 131 vehicles have been clamped by the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) for overnight parking on the city streets.
Francisco Ouano, CCTO operations head, said that since last week, at least 131 vehicles were clamped as CCTO strictly enforced City Ordinance 1657, or the Clamping Ordinance that regulates illegal parking on the streets.
Last Thursday, members of the CCTO-Task Force Alpha apprehended at least 73 vehicles, including trucks.
Another 58 vehicles were clamped by the traffic office Sunday dawn.
“We’re really making sure that the ordinance is enforced in our streets because illegal parking in our thoroughfares is one of the factors why our emergency and disaster responders have a hard time accessing the scene of the incident,” Ouano told SunStar Cebu.
He said their operations only started last Sept. 28 because they were still waiting for the clamping equipment to arrive.
But after operating for only a week, Ouano said at least 30 trucks and more than 70 light vehicles have been clamped by their office.
He said that majority of the vehicles were illegally parked on Urgello St. and in Banawa, Barangay Guadalupe area.
Because of this, Ouano said they have received more traffic complaints, around 30 percent of which are from motorists whose vehicles were clamped.
“This is because the ordinance was not really enforced in the past administration. With this new development, we hope we could instill discipline among our vehicle owners. Our streets are intended for moving vehicles, not for resting ones,” he said.
Ouano asked vehicle owners to strictly follow the provisions of the law. /
Should owners need to leave their vehicles on the road overnight, CCTO operations chief Francisco Ouano advises them to look for designated parking areas to avoid paying the P500 clamping fee and another P500 for disregarding traffic signs.