In just half a month, the City Traffic Management Office (CTMO) had already clamped over 300 vehicles for being parked along no-parking zones.

CTMO Chief Tony Samante told The Chronicle that as of September 16, excluding Sundays, they had already clamped 260 motorcycles and 52 four-wheeled vehicles.

The city government started full implementation of the clamping ordinance on September 1.

Samante said the proceeds of fines collected from violators already reached P170,200.

For motorcycle, the CTMO uses chain and padlock to prevent erring motorists from just getting away without paying the fines.

Just last Friday, traffic enforcers in the city proved no one is exempted as they clamped a police car of Bien Unido parked at a clamping and towing zone along Gallares St.

The driver of the police car paid the fine of P800 for the violation.

Samante used to be assigned at the traffic division of the Tagbilaran City Police Station and retired as police inspector before the city government hired him to head the CTMO.

The Towing and Clamping Ordinance of the city imposes fine of P200 on drivers of illegally parked motorcycles and tricycles, P500 for four-wheeled vehicles, and P1,000 for six-wheeler trucks and above.

During the dry-run in the first week of implementation, the CTMO padlocked and clamped 94 illegally parked vehicles, 75 of which were motorcycles and 19 were four-wheeled vehicles.

As of now, the CTMO office has 15 clamping devices and deploys around 70 personnel to implement the ordinance.

City Administrator Leonides Borja earlier said the city government also designated some pay parking areas to address the concern on lack of parking spaces which forced some drivers to park along no-parking zone.

This is intended to complement the strict implementation of the towing and clamping ordinance.

The average parking fee is set at P20 for the first three hours, while some establishments charge P50 for whole-day parking.

Borja said the Towing and Clamping Ordinance will serve as deterrent to drivers who just park anywhere at their convenience without being mindful of its effect to the traffic flow.

However, despite many passenger tricycle drivers had gone back to their old habit of parking in front of the BQ Mall entrance at the CPG Ave. side, and many still swarm at the entrance of Island City Mall across the public market, at times occupying up to half of the road, thus blocking the flow of traffic and making it difficult for people coming in and out of the mall to pass.

Rizal St. connecting to Tamblot St. remains choked with vehicles parked in both sides, usually in the morning until noontime.