City dad wants “on-the-road” car wash businesses regulated

Photo courtesy of vecteezy.com

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Council is set to request concerned government agencies to conduct regular inspections of roads, including those in mountain areas, to ensure that no illegal “on-the-road” car wash businesses are operating.

The council, during its regular session on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, approved a resolution that Councilor Renato Osmeña, Jr. proposed, which called for the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) and the Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, and Enhancement (PROBE) team to strictly implement City Ordinance No. 801 or the Traffic Code of Cebu City to ensure illegal car wash businesses are not tolerated.

Osmeña’s resolution also directs the City Treasurer’s Office and the Business Permit and Licensing Office to conduct tax mapping to determine whether these car wash services have the necessary business permits and impose penalties as necessary.

The councilor said that it has been observed that daily incidence involving motorcycles and four-wheel vehicles illegally parked along the roads, during the cleaning and washing of vehicles in urban and even in mountain barangays is increasing.

“The washing of motorcycles and vehicles along the road poses danger to unsuspecting motorists passing by the area who are at risk of figuring in an accident due to the wet and slippery roads caused by soap and other chemicals used for scrubbing and cleaning the vehicles,” Osmeña said in his resolution.

CCTO executive director Paul Gotiong, for his part, welcomed this move.

“Ato lang siguro ng i-inspection first, then probably make documentations first then amo na na siyang ipa report or ihatag namo sa PROBE para makahatag sila og notification,” he said.

“Kay ang sa amoa nga cases, usually what we do is kung naa ra mi makit-an nga mag car wash, that’s the time we can apprehend. We are actually doing that already,” he added. /rcg