By Eddie Barrita
CEBU CITY, (PNA) — A Cebu City legislator has filed a proposed ordinance increasing the penalty for owners of noisy motorcycles in the city from P20 to P1,000.
Cebu City Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias said his proposed ordinance will amend City Ordinance 465, or the ordinance requiring owners of motorcycles to put a silencer or muffler in their vehicles. CO 465 was approved in 1964 yet and imposed a fine of only P20.
“There is a need to revisit CO 465 to make it more attuned to the advances in technology and contemporary practices of motorists and be more specific with limitations on changes, alterations or modifications that may be made on exhaust pipes of motor vehicles,” he said.
“Motor vehicles are usually equipped with silencers or mufflers for anti-noise pollution reasons. However, a number of vehicle owners remove these silencers or modify their mufflers to make the sound emitted by the exhaust pipe louder,” he said.
The higher penalty, Cabarrubias said, will make people become responsible in the use of their motorcycles.
Aside from increasing the fine for the owners of noisy motorcycles, Cabarrubias, in his draft ordinance, also proposed to increase their imprisonment from 10 days to one month.
He also recommended penalties for second- or third-time offenders.
For the second offense, violators will be fined P3,000 or an imprisonment of not more than two months but not less than one month or both at the discretion of the court.
For the third offense, violators will be fined P5,000 or an imprisonment of not more than three months or both at the discretion of the court.