MANILA, Philippines – The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority has moved the implementation of steeper illegal parking fines to January 7, MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia announced on Wednesday, December 19.

MMDA Regulation Number 18-008, which was supposed to be implemented Wednesday, set illegal parking fines for attended vehicles from P200 to P1,000, and unattended vehicles from P500 to P2,000 

“Pero hindi porket Janaury 7 ‘yung pagtaas ng fine, hindi tayo manghuhuli. Tuloy-tuloy pa rin, pero discounted pa sila ngayon,” Garcia said. (Implementation of the fine hike on January 7 doesn’t mean we will stop issuing tickets now. We will still enforce the law but the fines would be at discounted rates.)

Garcia attributed the delay of implementation to the need to fix MMDA’s ticketing and collection system, and added that “it’s Christmas season anyway.”

Under the new regulation, violators may be issued traffic violation tickets up to twice a day, with a 3-hour interval between issuances. This means a motorist can be fined up to P4,000 a day for illegal parking.

On top of this, violators may also receive tickets for obstructing public roads. Fine is at P1,000.

Garcia said vehicles without plate numbers caught illegally parked with be towed by enforcers automatically.

According to MMDA data, traffic enforcers have issued 2,500 tickets within the first 15 days of December under the old fine scheme.

The policy-making body of MMDA, the Metro Manila Council, approved  the steeper fines on illegal parking in August. – Rappler.com