COA Asked: Look into deal between city, towing companies

CEBU, Philippines - Tinago barangay councilman Joel Garganera asked the Commission on Audit to look into the transaction between the Cebu City government and some towing companies hired to assist the City Traffic Operations Management in impounding illegally parked vehicles.

Garganera said he believes that the transactions entered into by the city with the Road Warriors Towing Services, and One-Stop Towing Services were very disadvantageous to the government.

He claimed that no bidding in choosing the towing firms was conducted.

The Tinago barangay official, an opposition leader and one of Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s critics, figured in a controversy after he intervened when the personnel of One-Stop Towing Services tried to tow a vehicle that was illegally parked near an uptown hospital on April 8.

Osmeña, who is still recuperating in Houston, Texas after he underwent a surgical operation to remove his urinary bladder that has cancer, advised CITOM to file charges against Garganera, who reportedly threatened to break the head of one of the towing personnel.

Garganera said he is not afraid if CITOM or the towing firm would file charges against him. He said he would question the way the towing personnel implement the existing ordinance that allows the towing of illegally parked vehicles.

He also hit the old practice of CITOM that allowed the private towing firm to collect the fines from the owners of the towed vehicles.

The towing firm will just remit the share of the city to the city treasurer’s office.

“We do not know if the money which is paid to the private towing company eventually ends with the treasury of the City of Cebu. If so, how much?” Garganera asked.

The Freeman learned that before February this year, the city only received a 15 percent share from the towing fees collected by private towing companies, which are charging P1,500 towing fee for motorcycles and a higher amount for much bigger vehicles.

Councilor Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, the chairman of the City Council committee on traffic management, said that effective February, the city’s share from the towing fees collected by the private towing firms increased to 25 percent.

Garganera was able to secure a document to prove that on March 17, 2009, the Road Warriors Towing Services collected P1,500 towing fee from the owner of motorcycle with plate number GX-1457.

City Ordinance 2172 said that the city’s lack of modern and efficient towing equipment prompted the CITOM to suggest that it will hire the services of private towing companies.

But the ordinance clearly stated that it will be the city treasurer’s office that will collect the payment of the towing fee and issue the corresponding receipts to the owners of the towed vehicles. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM (THE FREEMAN)