By Jel Santos No car garage, no building permit. This is the new city ordinance that the local government of Marikina City is imposing, according to Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro. Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro (Photo from Marikina PIO / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN) “The ordinance is authored by Councilor Donn Favis. He also created another ordinance mandating the removal of gates at subdivisions in the city,” he said. Under the ‘No garage, No Building Permit Ordinance of 2019 in Marikina City’ Ordinance, businesses are required to provide adequate garage facilities as a requirement on the issuance of a building permit for the construction of their structures in Marikina City. “Anyone who intends to construct a structure shall be required to show proof like the presentation of a building plan or blue print or, attesting to the availability of a permanent parking space or facility on his/her proposed construction as a requirement for the issuance of a building permit,” the Section 3 of the ordinance stated. According to Favis, requiring such will diminish the number of vehicles parked on some roads where the city government is allowing parking. “The idea is to have a‘No Car Garage, No Building Permit’ ordinance. So, technically it would be to require as a prerequisite for the application and approval of a building permit to have a vehicle provision for parking mandatory. That way, we could resolve iyong problem sa residential structures na nagpa-park sila sa roads,” he said. “In Marikina, it is a no-no to park along sidewalks but, we are now, at certain specified roads allow one-side parking or both sides parking, or either sides no parking. So through that ordinance we can lessen vehicles parked on the roads and streets; declogging of course the traffic; handling problems with homeowners in conflict that are thinking that the road in front of their houses are their parking lots,” the councilor added. The ordinance, he said, was created to ensure that roads in Marikina City will be utilized by motorists. Also, Favis said it was in compliance with the directive of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to clear roads and sidewalks of obstructions. “The truth is that roads are not owned by neither of the residents living or operating a business in the area. They do not own it. The road is owned by the government, maintained by the government, and constructed by the government; and purely dapat hindi maparkingan. This is in compliance with the DILG directive to clear the roads of obstructions,” he said. For those with small lots, the local government said they are eyeing to establish communal places where they could park their vehicles. Favis also disclosed that he also authored another ordinance mandating the removal of gates of subdivisions in Marikina City to give motorists alternate routes. “Last week, na-approve ang removal of gates of subdivisions to give alternate route to motorists. The idea is to use their roads,” he said. “There are objections from some homeowners associations, but they have to comply. We have already passed this in the council,” Favis added. The mayor, meanwhile, said that some of the subdivisions in Marikina have already removed their gates in compliance with their ordinance. Teodoro stressed that the ordinance was created in compliance with the DILG memorandum circular.