WHEN our City Mayor-elect Jerry Treñas came out with his program of government effective June 30, 2019 we suggested in our column of May 21, 2019 that we also adopt a home garage policy for all car or vehicle owners in the city like what they have in Hong Kong.
We found out that there was such a bill requiring parking space introduced in the Senate for Metro Manila by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, as follows:
“An Act regulating the sale of Motor Vehicles in Metro Manila by requiring proof-of-parking space or facility from motor vehicle buyers as pre-requisite for the purchase of a motor vehicle and its registration with the Land Registration Office.”
From its explanatory note, however, the bill appears to be deficient since it will apply only to new vehicles purchased and registered with the LTO without including those that are already on the streets. Well, maybe the author will clarify this when it is taken up for discussion on the floor, but it was not yet acted upon in the Senate since June 30, 2016 when originally filed or about three years now.
We wish our newly-elected congresswoman Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda will include a similar bill in her legislative agenda for vehicle registrants in the City of Iloilo to show proof of garage or parking space when registering their motor vehicles with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), both for newly-acquired units or renewals.
With an expanding city like Iloilo, aside from traffic, we must also faithfully implement our building regulations. This is where our city and district engineers have an important role to enforce strictly our Zoning Ordinance for an orderly and compliant buildings constructed in our city.
In an article this weekend in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) titled, “Provincial Cities on the Rise”, Iloilo’s growth was cited with the “continued influx here of outsourcing companies, deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and expansion of the non-outsourcing sectors such as insurance and finance, that propelled demand for vertical and horizontal residential projects in the city. Local residents have also started acquiring condominium units as alternative investment option,” a May 9 Colliers’ report stated.
Its office property market holds much promise with Iloilo City continuing to attract major occupants such as call centers and legal transcription service providers. Colliers expect the completion of about 133,450 square meters (1.4 million square feet) of new supply from 2019 to 2021 or about 44,500 square meters (478,800 square feet) annually, all of which are likely to be in the Mandurriao area.
Greater retail space absorption in Mandurriao district, especially in the Iloilo Business Park, is expected during the short term as it benefits from the office towers and hotels found in the area. Colliers added that it expects demand from food and beverage (F&B), and clothing and footwear firms sustaining an annual take-up of about 11,400 square meters a year from 2019 to 2021.
Malls in Mandurriao district especially in the township projects developed by Megaworld, SM and Ayala Land continue to record strong consumer traffic. Tenants should also explore acquiring retail space in malls near the thriving residential communities outside Mandurriao such as that in Pavia, Savannah and Jaro,” Colliers further said.
GEM OF THOUGHT
“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.” – Oscar Wilde (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
