Garganera, others to sue towing companies

CEBU, Philippines – Tinago barangay councilman Joel Garganera and some motorists whose vehicles were towed by the private towing companies for illegal parking in different parts of the city are set to file a class suit before the court this week seeking the court’s intervention to stop the towing operations for alleged violation with the law.

Garganera, one of the vocal critics of Mayor Tomas Osmeña, said he is now closely coordinating with lawyer Ramsey Quijano, the president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu Province Chapter, in the drafting of the case for injunction.

The barangay official explained that their grounds for filing an injunction case against the Cebu City government through the City Traffic Operations Management and the two private towing companies hired by CITOM is that they are not complying with the provisions of the ordinance that provides for the towing of illegally-parked vehicles in the roads.

The mayor claimed that he is not bothered by Garganera’s plan to file charges against the city, CITOM and the two private towing companies —One-Stop Towing Services and Road Warriors Towing Services.

 “No reaction. Not important to me,” he said.

Garganera said it is provided in the existing city ordinance that the personnel of the tow vehicles must first blow their horn or find the owners of the vehicles before they tow it, but he said what the tow personnel are doing is contrary to the law.

The city officials explained that the rapid urbanization of Cebu City and the increase in the number of vehicles caused tremendous pressure of the city’s narrow roads that resulted to traffic congestions aggravated by the indiscriminate parking of vehicles in the streets.

It prompted the city to hire the services of the two private towing companies to assist CITOM in pulling out illegally-parked vehicles and agreed to receive a share of only 25 percent out of the gross income of the tow firms. 

But Garganera, who figured in an incident last April 8 when he and Quijano stopped the tow personnel from pulling out the lawyer’s vehicle parked beside the road in barangay Capitol Site, claimed the tow firms were just hired because these are reportedly owned by the mayor’s close friends.

Because of that incident, Garganera and Quijano were criminally charged before the Cebu City prosecutors’ office by the tow personnel who were involved in the case.

Osmeña denied that he is protecting the owners of the tow companies as he even encouraged Garganera to continue his mission to prove that One-Stop Towing Services committed tax fraud as what he has claimed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Garganera refused to believe that said private tow company only earned a gross income of P238,294 last year.

 “Mag-operate ra diay sila nga alkanse? Kuwang ra gani ang maong kantidad nga ibayad sa sweldo sa mga empleyado,” he said.

He cited the tow vehicle with license plate numbers YFV-749 is registered under the name of JI Printers, while the one with license plate numbers YFZ-948 is also registered under the name of Edgar Montalban of Magsaysay Street, Pasil, Cebu City. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP (THE FREEMAN)