Anti-business ‘Kamatayan Lanes’

Last Monday, my column was about how many LGUs outside Metro Manila are driving away livestock farms from their localities and discouraging the setting up of farms and agriculture related businesses.

Well, I recently learned that an LGU inside Metro Manila has sent out their personnel from the business permits division to check on business establishments to find out if they are up to date with their permits and licenses and if they have parking space/s for their customers.

After the inspection of documents, the people from City Hall spoke with the cashier and workers of the business establishments (not the owners) to explain to them there will soon be a new system regarding public parking, wherein the barangay where they are located will no longer be allowed to do tire clamping of “illegally parked vehicles” or charge the usual P1,500 fine. You can imagine how happy the people were.

But it was a very short sigh of relief, because after that, the guys from the City Hall elaborated that the new system is that no street parking will be allowed – period. If customers are found violating the No Parking policy, the roving patrol from City Hall will simply use their cellphone cameras, take a picture of the vehicle with its license plate and send it to City Hall.

The image will likely be sent to the LTO so the violator can’t renew their vehicle registration until they go back to the City Hall and pay the fine. There’s nothing new in that except if you are a supplier from Baguio or out of town. But here is where this LGU really cuts deep. The fine, as told to the employees of the business establishment, will be P3,400 instead of P1,500 only!

Either the City Hall officials desperately need to raise a lot of money to rebuild their “unsafe” city hall, or the council members are convinced that the only way to discourage people from parking in the street is to hit them hard in the wallet. Remember the controversial Marcos-era phrase: “What are we in power for?” Now we know.

So, whatever happened to public consultation? Whatever happened to representation? Many barangays never had a say about the creation or delegation of Mabuhay Lanes going through their neighborhood. And if the Strictly No Parking rule is imposed, the Mabuhay Lanes may as well be called Kamatayan Lanes or the Lanes of Death for neighborhood businesses.

I suspect that many city halls in the Metro are either there to drive away customers and Mom-and-Pop businesses who they claim are causing traffic along alternative roads, or they are favoring malls and mixed used townships etc. that have been affected by the community-based coffee shops, restaurants, specialty grocers, etc. Even traditional office buildings have lost out to residential structures that are being leased out as offices, commissaries or storage depots.

They say that City Hall always wins, but I wonder what the courts might say if the conflict is brought to judges and magistrates via a class action suit. What would happen if these strong-arm tactics were turned into an election issue? Let us not forget that everything that happens within the LGU was at one point presented to City Hall, reviewed by City Hall, approved by City Hall, regulated by City Hall and ultimately made money from by City Hall.

All roads and areas classified and declared as “commercial or business zones” within a barangay or LGU are such by virtue of the barangay getting approval from residents and City Hall. Many commercial or so-called restaurant or bar districts are such because of the approval of City Hall. So, in effect, the principal architect and lead agency of the business development is City Hall.

Let us not forget that in many places, the small community-based businesses or Mom-and-Pop restaurants etc. evolved long before the MMDA, Metro Manila Mayors’ Council decided to invent Mabuhay Lanes or alternative routes. Many of these community businesses were built and established in “closed communities” that were not generally accessible or used by the commuting or driving public. They were neighborhood pubs, barbershops, parlors, food take-out joints and restaurants serving the neighborhood that became so successful they attracted other constituencies.

The roads therein happened to be short cuts for residents but not the general public. The government unilaterally made the decision without properly studying the economic displacement they would cause for block upon block of business establishments that will lose their customer base and subsequently their millions of pesos in equipment, employee development and years it took to establish their businesses. Will City Hall pay compensation or damages to business owners who go bankrupt?

The question is to what end and for how much benefit to City Hall or for an LGU and its residents? If roads are declared No Parking zones and people stay away, that means the LGU won’t be making a killing from fines collected. Assuming you free up alternative roads and Mabuhay Lanes, you will consequently increase the driving speed through those roads and neighborhoods and expose the residents to greater vehicular danger.

Free flowing roads are nice to hear but they also create vehicle volume, which means increased traffic and safety management for the LGU as well as road repairs, not to mention law enforcement monitoring. In the end, City Hall will get something worse than they bargained for because they cooperated with people who don’t study the community, its history, the economy and the consequences in terms of economic impact.

Governments always require developers and businesses to submit environment and economic impact studies before getting approval. Perhaps it is now time to require national and local governments to present the same before they implement poorly studied or deficient plans such as Mabuhay Lanes and No Parking ordinances that are anti-business but politically popular.

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