Parking and votes

In Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore, car ownership is strictly monitored not just because of the potential pollution or traffic, but also because of a major road problem: the lack of parking space. Japanese friends tell me that in Tokyo, a car buyer must first show proof of having a garage or parking space before he or she is allowed to register the vehicle. The same rule holds true in Shanghai. In Singapore, vehicles are limited to streets outside the central business district; only those with special stickers are allowed into the CBD, but only after the owners pay a hefty sum.

Such stringent regulations have yet to be implemented in Mega Manila, despite the horrendous traffic caused in part by vehicles parked willy-nilly on our narrow streets or haphazardly on sidewalks and walkways.

I remember that when my son was still attending college in St. Benilde, in the notoriously traffic-prone Taft Avenue area, he would come home every day with one story or another about his parking woes. The most memorable was, while he and his friends were boarding his car along the street, another car swept by and hit his open front door! By the time he was in his senior year, my son had solved his parking problem: He had made friends with all the barangay tanod and watch-your-car boys in the area, who would immediately point him to an available slot when they spotted his car.

Such are the survival tactics of Manila’s motorists.

There is good news, however, in this messy scenario. There is in place in the dense, traffic-ky areas of Binondo, Ermita-Malate, Legarda and Tayuman, a parking system that makes use of modern technology to manage the parking problems of drivers and commuters.

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A company called Manila Parking Management (MPM) is implementing a parking scheme for private vehicles that limit to three hours the time a parking slot may be used, and monitors this time limit through the use of parking meters and hand-held devices.

The parking meters have been installed in these districts, and all motorists have to do is to swipe a prepaid or loaded card on the front of the meter and indicate which slot they are using. The cards allow parking for P10 an hour. In areas where the sidewalks are too narrow to allow for meters, there are roving parking attendants with hand-held devices, allowing drivers to reload the parking e-cards or buy such cards from them.

Morgan Say, CEO of the managing firm of MPM, says valet parking services will also be offered soon for an additional fee, plus free car-wash service for those who book the service ahead of time.

“At the same time, we want to professionalize the watch-your-car boys and parking attendants in the barangays where we are located,” adds Morgan. While the parking management company has a signed memorandum of agreement with the city government of Manila, it likewise strives to strengthen its relations with the barangay officials and local residents, many of whom now work for the company. Indeed, it has even embarked on a number of community outreach programs.

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Soon to be offered, adds Michael Say, Morgan’s father, is overnight parking, with car owners paying a fixed fee to park in designated slots.

For now, MPM operates only in Manila, although a similar scheme is at work in Makati, managed by the city government. Asked if they are willing to locate in other Metro Manila cities, the Says aver that they are now in negotiations with officials in other cities.

Aren’t they afraid of the meters getting vandalized or tampered with? Michael Say can remember only one instance: when a jeepney rammed into a parking meter in Binondo, damaging it irreparably. “But all we had to do was pull it out and replace it,” he adds. And since the residents stand to benefit from the parking arrangements, “they also act as security for the meters and for the cars who use the system.”

The arrangement seems a “win-win” solution for both the firm and the city government, which is spared from the millions of pesos it used to spend each year just on parking management. At the same time, the barangay government earns some income, as it gets a percentage of the parking meter fees. And with parking allowed only on one side of the street, it also guarantees smooth traffic flow, a dream once thought nearly impossible to accomplish.

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“Sagot Kita Bayan (roughly: I have your back, people)” is the name of a new voter-education and organizing effort with one key difference: At its helm are “veterans” in the game of politics who not only have experience in the electoral arena, but also have a clear-eyed view of the promises and perils of elections.

Former senator and Laguna governor Joey Lina and former congressman Willy Villarama are spearheading “Sagot Kita Bayan,” which hopes not just to educate the public on the responsibilities of voters, but also popularize the “right guidelines” in choosing the candidates one supports.

One of the factors working in their favor, says Lina, is that “we know how to organize at the grassroots.” Part of their work in the period leading up to the elections next year, they add, is “collect information from all organized groups and provide the background material to voters on who are the candidates deserving of support.”

They emphasize, though, that they “will not impose on voters,” instead relying on what Lina calls “circles of discernment” to circulate the information they gather on candidates at the national and local levels, and lead discussions on who deserve support from voters. They add: “We also need to reach out to the young,” who are, after all, the majority of voters in 2016.