CITOM revenue collections drop

CEBU, Philippines - The revenue collection of the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management for the month of January reached P5.1 million, but the amount is much lesser compared to the amount collected in the same month last year.

Sofia Bacolod, head of Citom’s traffic violations bureau, said that the revenue collections in January 2008 reached P6,161,865 while the collections last month is only P5,164,865.

The documents showed that the collections from the administrative penalties, meaning from the fines of the apprehended erring drivers, went down from P559,445 in January 2008 to only P333,365 this year.

When The FREEMAN asked a Citom enforcer to make a comment on the decreased collections of administrative fines, he said “sayon ra kaayo nang sabton, hinay ang operation pagpanakop sa mga erring drivers adtong Enero.”

However, records showed that the jaywalking fines went up to P84,250 last January compared to only P52,550 for the same month last year.

The number of vehicles towed in January for illegal parking went down, that is why Citom collected only P41,700 as compared to P394,050 in January 2008.

The P2.8-million collections from pay parking fees for January alone reached a “break-even” with the amount collected for the same period last year.

But while the Citom’s revenue collections of P5.1 million for January this year is below last year’s collection for the same month, the amount is much higher compared to last December’s P3.4 million. — Rene U. Borromeo/MEEV   (THE FREEMAN)