The Senate Committee on Trade, Commerce, and Entrepreneurship has formed a technical working group (TWG) to further study a bill seeking to regulate the parking rates in various establishments for all motor vehicles.
Senator Win Gatchalian said the TWG would thresh out Senate Bill No. 745, or the Parking Fees Regulation Act, which proposes standardization of parking fees across different shopping malls, buildings, and other business establishments.
Under the bill, the imposition of fees for the use of parking spaces and facilities in shopping malls, hospitals, schools, or other similar establishments, including vacant lots and buildings that are solely devoted to parking slot use, will be regulated to keep prices within reasonable bounds.
“The proposal is to standardize parking fees to P40 for the first eight hours.”
The proposal is to standardize parking fees to P40 for the first eight hours, additional P10 for the succeeding hours, and an overnight parking fee of P100 per vehicle.
Gatchalian said the aim of the bill is to protect consumers against the imposition of unreasonable and exorbitant parking fees by the said establishments.
The measure also proposes a waiver of the parking fee of customers who have purchased at least P1,000 worth of goods or services, provided that they have used the parking space for not more than three hours.
Establishment owners shall also be held accountable for the loss of property or damage to the customer’s motor vehicle while it is inside their parking spaces by prohibiting them from invoking a waiver of liability.
“We want to bring the responsibility of these incidences back to the owner of the parking lot.”
“We want to bring the responsibility of these incidences back to the owner of the parking lot, and on top of that, we want to impose fines and penalties if ever any of provision is violated,” the veteran legislator said.