BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The Legislative Monitoring and Evaluation Section of the Baguio City Council has proposed an amendment to the Anti-Colorum Ordinance (Ordinance 55-2017).
The proposed revisions are based on the recommendations provided by Police City Director Francisco Bulwayan Jr.
Under the current ordinance, enforcement of the Anti-Colorum provisions falls primarily under the jurisdiction of the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO).
In the proposed amendment, the BCPO should coordinate with the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Department of Transportation (DOT), Land Transportation Office (LTO), and the City Engineering Office for enforcement, considering that the data needed to confirm whether a vehicle is colorum is with the LTFRB.
The police can issue traffic citation tickets, but only the LTO and deputized agents can confiscate drivers’ licenses.
In his letter to the city council dated February 2, 2024, Bulwayan mentioned a recent Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion which indicates that enforcement against colorum vehicles should be handled by the LTO and the Philippine National Police (PNP), with the LTFRB playing a coordinating role.
Under the existing ordinance, the driver’s license and the plate number of the colorum vehicle can be confiscated which may conflict with LTO’s new policy set forth under Land Transportation Office Memorandum dated April 27, 2023.
To address this, the proposed amendment states that confiscation of motor vehicle license plates is prohibited, but physical impoundment of vehicles is required.
It further states that the confiscation of drivers’ licenses is restricted to LTO and their deputized agents.
This proposal was based on Bulwayan’s comment that the LTO has recently prohibited the confiscation of license plates, but instead requires the physical impoundment of vehicles.
Despite the issues he mentioned, Bulwayan reported that the BCPO made 354 apprehensions under the Anti-Colorum Ordinance from 2017 to 2023 and coordinated with relevant agencies to strengthen anti-colorum operations.
Under the existing Anti-Colorum Ordinance, the penalties for the owner or operator of a colorum vehicle escalate with each successive offense.
A first offense results in a P5,000.00 fine and a 10-day vehicle impoundment with additional daily fees after that period.
A second offense incurs the same fine but with a 20-day impoundment and higher impounding fees.
For a third and subsequent offenses, the fine remains P5,000.00, but the vehicle is impounded for 30 days with even higher impounding fees and possible imprisonment of 30 to 60 days for the owner/operator or corporate official.
The proposed amendment has been adopted and approved on first reading by the city council. Furthermore, it has been referred to the city council’s Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Traffic Legislation for review.
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