“These decrees of yours are no different from spiders’ webs. They’ll restrain anyone weak and insignificant who gets caught in them, but they’ll be torn to shreds by people with power and wealth.”
The quote is attributed to Scythian philosopher and traveler Anacharsis by Plutarch while discussing the laws of Solon, one of seven wise men of Greece who dominated Athenian politics in ancient times.
Things do not seem to have changed much since then.
Our own lawmakers, for instance, simply abhor the idea of passing a measure that would prohibit members of families from dominating our political system, despite the explicit ban on political dynasties in the 1987 Constitution.
But even as they pass laws that would ostensibly uplift the lives of the poor and the weak, it’s not beyond them to keep the downtrodden and the powerless where they are.
After all, Congress is supposed to pass laws that would benefit the general welfare and the common weal, not the interests of the few.
We, therefore, view with concern the proposed measure that would require car owners in the urban areas to have their own parking spaces before they can register their vehicles with the Land Transportation Office.
This measure, we think, is not only short-sighted and anti-poor but will also have a detrimental impact on the economy as a whole.
The stark reality is that public transportation is woefully inadequate to serve the needs of the public.
While we already have a light rail network, buses, jeepneys, tricycles and pedicabs operating all over Metro Manila and other urban areas, they are not enough to serve the needs of a population that seems to multiply faster than rabbits do every year.
Low-income people prefer to buy vehicles, whether new or second-hand, even if they have no parking space and park right in front of their homes or nearby because they cannot afford to rent or buy parking space with their measly income.
Micro and small businesses often rely on small trucks, second-hand vans and even tricycles to make deliveries of goods. Neither can they afford to buy or rent their own parking spaces.
Besides, with the sky-high prices of real estate in Metro Manila and other urban areas nowadays, who can afford to purchase or rent housing units with their own parking spaces? Only the rich, that’s who.
The proposed bill of Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco to compel car buyers and owners in the country’s urban hubs to have their own parking spaces before they can register their vehicles with the Land Transportation Office is, therefore, discriminatory and ill-advised.
The lawmaker asserts that car owners who park on public thoroughfares worsen street congestion and “when roads become parking lots, there will be longer trip times and increased vehicular queuing.”
He claims that the bill would “deter the proliferation of vehicles occupying the roadsides or sidewalks.”
The National Economic and Development Authority has identified Metro Manila, Angeles, Cebu, Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Dagupan, Davao, Iloilo, Naga, and Olongapo as among the highly urbanized areas.
Velasco moves in for the kill with the provision that motor vehicle owners who are able to register without the required parking area will have their registration revoked.
On top of a hefty and ridiculous fine of P50,000, they will also be prohibited from registering any vehicle with the LTO for three years.
The tightening of the screws on the poor via a no-parking space requirement for car buyers and owners actually isn’t the first to be proposed in Congress.
There’s another one, we recall, by another lawmaker from Metro Manila which appears to have been shelved by his colleagues.
Did they even bother to conduct a public consultation on their proposed bills?
Or are they simply out of touch with the reality on the ground, the real economic situation and the extent of poverty in this country?
