City earns P1.8 million from towing collection

The Cebu City government has earned P1.8 million from its 15 per cent share of the fines collected by a private company that is towing illegally parked vehicles.

Sofia Bacolod, head of the City Traffic Operations Management - Traffic Violations Bureau, said the city has received P1,894,959 of the total collection of Road Warriors Towing Services from December in 2006 to August in 2008.

But the City Council, through the motion of Councilor Rodrigo Abellanosa, asked the Road Warriors to submit a comprehensive report to the city about its operations.

Of the P1,500 towing fees collected by the private towing company, only P225 goes to the city.

The council had allowed private towing companies to assist the Citom in transporting illegally parked vehicles to its impounding area.

Abellanosa said the statistics showed that the Road Warriors would earn even more than P1 million a month.

He said the city may ask the Road Warriors to reduce its rate otherwise the city may also increase the percentage of sharing of the collections.

The Citom board had recommended that the council should reduce the towing fee from P1,500 to P500 in response to the public clamor that the existing fee is too expensive.

Many motorists have complained that the P1,500 towing fee collected by the Road Warriors for every motorcycle it is towing to the Citom’s impounding area is too exorbitant.

But Connie Cañedo of the Road Warriors is afraid that reducing the towing fee might be disadvantageous to the city’s campaign against illegal parking. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM (THE FREEMAN)