“No Garage, No Car” Bill Now Being Mulled in the Senate

Neophyte Senator Joel Villanueva has put up for deliberation Senate Bill 1165, the “No Garage, No Car” Act of 2016. Filed a few days ago, SB 1165 mandates motor vehicle buyers from metropolitan areas to provide proof of parking space as a prerequisite for vehicle purchase and registration with the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

Let’s check out some snippets from the bill, courtesy of the Senate’s posting:

SEC. 3. Scope and Application; Proof-of-Parking Space or Facility.

Any person, whether natural or juridical, with residence or business address in metropolitan areas such as, but not limited to Metro Manila, Angeles, Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Dagupan, Davao, Iloilo, Naga, and Olongapo, who intends to purchase a motor vehicle, shall be required to execute an affidavit which shall be acknowledged before a notary public, attesting to the availability of a permanent parking space or facility or that a parking space or facility has been leased or procured specifically for the purpose of parking the motor vehicle intended to be bought before the affidavit executed by the prospective buyer of motor vehicles shall be presented to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as a pre-requisite for registration.

SEC. 5. Role of the Land Transportation Office.

The LTO shall make as a prerequisite in the registration of a motor vehicle the submission of the affidavit attesting to the existence of a permanent parking space or facility by the buyer or vendee of the motor vehicle that it has confirmed the existence of a permanent parking space or facility for the motor vehicle to be purchased. The document must be kept on file and the same shall be produced when there exists a claim or evidence to the contrary that the parking space or facility attested therein does not exist.

Okay, so that’s pretty self-explanatory. City dwellers will need to execute a notarized affidavit as proof of having a permanent parking slot when buying a new vehicle and registering with the LTO.

SEC. 7. Penalties.

A motor vehicle registration issued to an owner, whether natural or juridical, which has been fraudulently obtained from the LTO by making untrue claims in the public document executed for the purpose of complying with the requirements under Section 3 of this Act indicating that an adequate parking space or facility exists for a motor vehicle, shall be revoked and the motor vehicle owner shall be suspended from registering a motor vehicle under his name for a period of three (3) years and imposed a fine in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php50,000.00) for every violation of the provisions of this Act.

Fifty thousand pesos as the penalty for every violation of the provisions of the bill, along with the suspension of vehicle registration for 3 years. Ouch.

Earlier in August, Senator Win Gatchalian also filed a similar bill but with a smaller scope – Senate Bill 201, the “Proof-of-Parking Space Act”. Senator Gatchalian’s bill aims to declog Metro Manila’s roads of illegally parked vehicles.