Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. signed into law Ordinance 107, s. 2008 which grants a permanent exemption to private motor vehicles from the coverage of the city’s number-coding ordinance.

The mayor’s move came amid opposition from public utility transport groups and other sectors that claim that said action of the city officials contradicts the city’s programs on road decongestion and environmental protection.

The said ordinance is authored by councilor Perlita Rondez and co-authored by vice mayor Daniel Fariñas, councilors Betty Lourdes Tabanda, Galo Weygan, Nicasio Aliping Jr., Antonio Tabora Jr., Erdolfo Balajadia, Nicasio Palaganas, Isabelo Cosalan Jr., Richard Cariño, Fred Bagbagen, Elaine Sembrano, and Joel Alangsab.

In the measure, the authors stressed that the presence of private cars does not substantially affect the traffic situation at the central business district as shown by the implementation of the number coding scheme for private vehicles as embodied in Administrative Orders 218, s. 2007; and 7 and 39, both series of 2008, on Nov. 22, 2007 and May 30, 2008, respectively.

“The City of Baguio, being a prime tourist destination in the north, should provide a comfortable and stress-free journey to its guests by affording them the convenience and freedom of touring and exploring the various tourist attractions of the city in the comfort of their personal vehicles or chartered public utility vehicles,” the aldermen noted.

“Likewise, the city is also a preferred venue for various sanctioned activities such as conventions, conferences, and assemblies and as such the dele-gates and/or participants would be provided easy access to and from their places of residence to the venue of their respective activities and even to the different tourist-oriented places of the city,” they added.

“With the success of the new CBD traffic re-routing scheme, it has been observed that traffic in the CBD has been greatly reduced. Therefore, it is timely to again amend the number coding scheme ordinance,” the aldermen further said.

Under the measure, exemption will be granted to private motor vehicles and chartered public utility vehicles of visitors/tourists/vacationers or participants of sanctioned activities such as conventions, conferences, and assemblies.