"No garage, no registration" act seen to ease traffic crisis

Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Jay Velasco filed House Bill No. 31 or the "No Garage, No Registration" Act, which aims to decongest the country's capital as well as other highly urbanized cities from the age-old problem of traffic, contributory of which is the proliferation of illegally parked vehicles in public spaces.

According to Velasco, the bill seeks to make "adequate garage or parking space before the purchase of motor vehicles" a requirement so as to discourage the "proliferation of vehicles occupying the roadsides or sidewalks."

The Marinduque Rep. also added that this proposed legislation is very personal to him and treats it as his advocacy, saying it's a "very perennial problem" and how solving the traffic congestion will "open up a lot, especially for our commuters; it will ease up their travels," he expressed.

No proof of parking space, no registration

Under the proposed law, vehicle buyers and car owners are required to present proof that they have their own garage or permanent parking space before getting their application for vehicle registration accepted and authorized.

In extreme terms, the House bill says no proof of parking spaces means prospective vehicle owners will be deprived of the right to own or buy a vehicle without it, making having a garage a prerequisite for vehicle ownership.

Penalties for dealers, motorists, and law enforcers

If the House bill turns into law, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will be in charge of securing a notarized affidavit from registrants. In instances of non-compliance, or motorists being able to obtain registrations without proof of parking space, the LTO employee who issued the illegal registration will face suspension of over three months without compensation.

Vehicle and car dealers will not be off the hook, as they are expected to also require potential buyers a duly notarized affidavit providing proof of parking space. The document will also be validated, and vehicle owners proven to have secured their registration based on false information will be prohibited from registering motor vehicles for up to three years, with a penalty amount 0f P50,000.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the LGU engineering office, and other key law enforcement agencies are also tapped to make periodic inspections and the necessary measures to penalize violators. They also urge the public to file reports against vehicle owners illegally parked on public roads and spaces.

The House bill is not new

It can be recalled that this has already been a legislative discussion back in 2019, where an executive from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) stressed the importance of limiting car ownership, and how the "no garage, no registration" policy may well be the answer to curbing the traffic crisis in the metro and other cities.

But even prior to that, then-senator Joel Villanueva also filed Senate bill No. 1165, or the "No Garage, No Car Act of 2016," which entailed the same parking space requirement with the identical objective of alleviating the country's massive traffic problem. 

Both bills from 2016 and 2022 recognize the following, besides Metro Manila, as the key metropolitan areas where "traffic congestion is prevalent":

Angeles City in Pampanga, Olongapo City in Zambales, Dagupan City in Pangasinan, Batangas City in Batangas, Bacolod City in Negros Occidental, Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental, Iloilo City in Iloilo, Naga City in Camarines Sur, and Davao City in Davao Del Sur.

EDITORIAL: Is the proposed law ethical?

The proposed legislation is said to expect protest and opposition from automobile groups. After all, this will have a significant effect on the purchasing of cars and other vehicles, with the proposed law setting up a new requirement prior to acceptance of owners' and buyers' vehicle registration, which could be an added burden to both consumers and car dealers.

The well-meaningness of the House bill could not be denied: the Philippines' traffic problem was ranked the worst in Southeast Asia in 2020, and placed ninth in the world, according to Numbeo, a database reporting on living conditions around the globe.

To be fair, the latest by Numbeo for the midyear of 2022 reports Philippines placing second in the global traffic index in Southeast Asia, and ranked 15th in the world, with a traffic index score of 189.47, a minimal improvement from 2020's index score of 198.84.

Philippine traffic is a big problem

If the statistics from Numbeo do not pose that much threat, Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) study may give a more terrifying effect: the economic costs of traffic congestion are gauged at 3.5 billion daily, with daily loss projected to reach 5.4 billion by 2035 if the traffic situation, especially in Metro Manila, will continue to worsen.

For the ordinary Filipino citizen, traffic means longer trip times, shorter attention spans, increased stress levels, unintended tardiness to work, or simply wasted time spent on prolonged vehicular queuing that doesn't seem to even budge until all passengers are dead-tired, angry, and hungry.

Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) such as jeepneys and buses can take only the slightest of blame, if at all, since they cater to multiple passengers at once. It is private car owners who could be held liable for the traffic congestion, for the simple reason that there are just too many of them on the road, and carrying only a few passengers compared to PUVs.

Include other factors such as road capacity being overwhelmed by traffic volume, lack of transport planning, and a car-centric transport system, according to a Rappler research. With efficient and unbiased implementation, traffic-exhausted Pinoys are at liberty to harbor hopes that House bill No. 31 might at least lessen the Philippines' traffic problem.

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