Amid confusion following the passage of Biñan City Ordinance No. 21 Series of 2023 regulating the use of Electric Motor Vehicles or E-Bikes in the city, the local government of Biñan decided to hold a forum with stakeholders and local officials last Wednesday, December 13.
The forum was led by Biñan Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) Chief Rommel Lim, Biñan Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (BTFRB) Head Ron Roscain, and Land Transportation Office (LTO) Calamba District Chief Eugene Diaz.
The forum was attended by dealers, homeowners’ associations, e-vehicle users, barangay officials, and local officials from the surrounding cities of San Pedro and Santa Rosa, Laguna and Carmona in Cavite.
“Tayo po ay nandito para resolbahin lahat ng katanungan dahil sa amin galit. Di kami ang policy maker, kami po ay implementor, sanggunian po ang nag-implement nito through the adoptation of (LTO) Administrative Order 2021-039,” POSO Chief Lim said.
Confusion over classifications
Even after commendable efforts from the local government of Biñan in providing clarity to its constituents regarding the rules and regulations of the new ordinance, confusion on e-vehicle and road classifications continues to ensue.
One specific scenario was the concern raised by an E-Bike dealer management where a misclassification occurred after LTO classified an L2B vehicle as L2A way back in 2021.
Providing clarity to the issue, LTO Chief Diaz said, “Ang pagkakaiba po kasi ng L2A at L2B yung physical appearance niya almost the same. Ang basehan po ng LTO bakit L2A o L2B ay yung capacity ng battery. Kapag po ang maximum speed niya 25km/h at pababa, L2A, pagka 50km/h (naman) L2B.”
In terms of road classifications, BTFRB Head Roscain shared that even he is unsure of whether the highway along the city is a national highway or a provincial and local road since the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) conducts projects in the area while the LGU operates traffic management.
While for Lim, a simple search from Google Maps will show that the highway is the Manila South Road, a national highway.
Registration
According to BTFRB, owners of Personal Mobility Scooters, Electric Kick Scooters, Category L1A, and Category L2A must register their vehicles to their office while the rest must be registered to LTO.
Registrations will start on January 3 next year until January 23. Those who will fail to register their vehicle within the scheduled date can still register but with additional fees as penalty.
Registration will cost P600 for the first registration of Biñan residents due to the one-time payment metal plate that costs P300 while only P300 for the second registration and for non-Biñan residents.
Where is LTO in Biñan City?
It would be strange if LTO Biñan fails to participate in a forum about a localized LTO Administrative order. However, that is exactly the case… and more.
According to Lim, they tried coordinating with LTO Biñan several times but did not receive any reply thus they had to invite Diaz from LTO Calamba.
LTO Biñan not only failed to participate but had actually confused dealers regarding the ordinance.
“Last time, noong una kong makausap si LTO Biñan sabi niya sakin parang kasama sa inyo ang L2B pero after one-week tumawag si LTO Biñan, hindi kasama.”
Apparently, BTFRB had already distributed leaflets including L2B with categories that must be registered to their office leading to confusion among dealers.
And for the third strike, Roscain revealed that LTO Biñan is not ready for E-Vehicle registration.
“Kausap ko ang LTO Biñan kahapon, ang sabi po nila lahat daw po ng unit na ganyan ay sa Lipa City (Batangas) irerehistro.”
Lucky for e-bike users, the dealers are the ones who had to go to Lipa to register the vehicles and trace everyone they sold e-bikes to so that they could register their vehicles in Lipa.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Local officials of Biñan City, Laguna, along with the Land Transportation Office (LTO), answer questions from stakeholders during a forum organized by the Biñan Public Order and Safety Office (POSO) about the city ordinance regulating the use of electric vehicles such as e-bikes and e-trikes last December 13. (Photo by Catherine Go)
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