Ban on mall park fees sought

A lawmaker from Bicol has filed a bill that seeks to ban shopping malls, hotels and other commercial establishments from collecting car parking fees from patrons.

Under House Bill No. 3283, authored by Rep. Joseph Santiago (NPC, Catanduanes), all commercial establishments shall be prohibited from charging any and all fees for the use of parking facilities or spaces within their premises.

Establishments violating the ban shall be penalized with a fine of P100,000 to P500,000, while their corporate officers shall suffer up to five years in prison.

Santiago’s bill further provides that owners of commercial establishments applying for new building permits shall be required to submit sworn statements that their integrated parking facilities would be made available to patrons free of charge.

Santiago stressed that commercial establishments are duty-bound to provide free parking spaces to their patrons.

"We find it totally deplorable that instead of providing free parking facilities, commercial establishments have been using these (facilities) to generate extraordinary (business) income at the expense of patrons," Santiago pointed out.

It will be recalled that the Senate committees on trade and industry and on justice and human rights, after conducting a joint inquiry, had denounced as "illegal" the collection of parking fees by malls and other commercial establishments.

The two Senate panels also called on the Office of the Solicitor General to take the necessary legal action in order to stop the continued collection of said fees.