BAGUIO CITY – Motor vehicles will be barred from roaming around the city once a proposed ordinance is passed designating every April 22 and June 5 as Carless Days in the city to help significantly reduce the increasing pollutants in the city’s air.
Councilor Elaine D. Sembrano stated the implementation of Carless Days shall cover all roads within the territorial jurisdiction of the city.
Under the proposal, during the designated dates of April 22, and June 5, no motor vehicles, automobile or fossil fuel powered transport vehicle shall ply the city’s roads from 6 am to 6 pm.
She underscored that residents and visitors alike shall be compelled to walk or use non-motorized transport vehicles such as bicycles, among others during the designated Carless Days.
A joint team to be composed of the members of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the City Environment and Parks Management office (CEPMO) shall be tasked to strictly implement the pertinent provisions of the local legislative measure.
However, police vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances and disaster response team vehicles used in the performance of their assigned duties and responsibilities shall be exempted from the implementation of the proposed ordinance.
Any person found to have violated the pertinent provisions of the local legislative measure shall be meted the penalty of at least 5 hours of environment and sanitation community work as may be assigned by the CEPMO if apprehended within the central business district or the Punong Barangay where the person resides or has been apprehended.
Sembrano emphasized that climate change is a reality that needs to be confronted by every nation and people to abate whatever its serious negative effects to the way of life in the global village and spare the population from the loss of innocent lives and damage to properties.
According to her, the observance of Earth Day every April 22 and the World Environment Day every June 5 are reminders of the role of each citizen towards the maintenance of a sustainable and livable world for human kind, thus, the implementation of the Carless Days during the said dates would be most fitting considering that it will provide added meaning for such celebrations.
She added international, national and local laws and policies are being crafted and approved around the world in response to the dire need to strictly implement timely and realistic measures to mitigate the serious negative effects of climate change and other forms of environmental disturbances so as not to affect the productivity of the people and the bright future of today’s youth in inheriting a livable place in their countries.
In consonance to the declared policy and operative principles provided for in Ordinance No. 18, series of 2016 otherwise known as the Environment Code of the City of Baguio, she claimed there is a need to institute concrete measures if only to emphasize the serious and encompassing concern of the local government relative to the preservation and protection of the environment and its people. /By Dexter A. See
