BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio g. Domogan issued Administrative Order No. 50, series of 2017 exempting trucks loaded with perishable goods, water delivery trucks and those containing mine ore of large-scale mining companies from the coverage of the provisions of Ordinance No. 05, series of 2017 or the new truck ban ordinance in the city.
Domogan met with La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda, officials of vegetable and cutflower truckers and traders, owners of water delivery companies and lawyer Eduardo M. Aratas of the Philex Mining corporation to discuss the details of the extent of the exemption granted to them while awaiting the amendments to be introduced by the local legislative body to the pertinent provisions of the ordinance.
Under the mayor’s order, a maximum of thirty (30) trucks loaded with perishable agricultural products bearing the duly authorized stickers shall be exempted daily from the coverage of the provisions of Ordinance No. 05, series of 2017.
Further, a maximum of ten (10) trucks loaded with cutflowers will be exempted from the coverage of the same ordinance on Thursdays to Saturdays while a maximum of seven (7) trucks with a similar load will be exempted from the truck ban on Sundays to Wednesdays.
On the other hand, water delivery trucks will be exempted from the coverage of the truck ban but owners of water delivery companies should coordinate with their clients to arrange the schedule of delivery beyond the prescribed truck ban.
A maximum of seven (7) trucks of Philex Mining Corporation will be exempted from the coverage of the truck ban in the morning while a maximum of seven (7) trucks of the same company will also be exempted from the coverage of the truck ban in the afternoon.
The city government, in coordination with the concerned associations of truckers and traders and the Baguio City Police Office–Traffic Management Branch (BCPO-TMB), shall issue two hundred ten (210) transferrable stickers specifically to the vegetable truckers for the use of the group in determining the trucks that will avail of the exemption from Mondays to Sundays.
However, the mayor’s order shall take effect after the City Council shall have confirmed the same after it was forwarded to the local legislative body for immediate action.
Earlier, Domogan suspended the implementation of the new truck ban ordinance for the fourth consecutive time finding merit in the clamor of the truckers relative to their schedules in meeting their clients in the lowlands and Metro Manila markets to allow the sale of their perishable goods.
Domogan appealed to the concerned truckers to cooperate with the agreed conditions that allowed them to be granted the pertinent exemptions to allow the smooth implementation of the ordinance once he will decide not to suspend the implementation of the new truck ban ordinance once the latest 10-day suspension will expire by the end of the month.
The stickers that will be used to the concerned group of truckers will be issued to the officials of the organization which will be in charge of disposing the transferrable stickers to their members who will be exempted from the truck ban. /By Dexter A. See#