Is This Legal?

[Alby]

Here is a business right on a main street displaying a sign (in blue) saying the side walk is reserved for parking? :)

It's all over Philippines by the way. No room at all for people to walk so they have no choice but walk with cars on the road :)

Accidents galore? You guessed it!

Mind you, this is a clear evidence that government don't care about it's people!

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[robert k]

I presume you are talking about the one by the light pole or whatever it is. I think someone was probably lazy and just left it there. In any case I would either walk around it or swing it out of my way and keep trucking.

 

I understand what you are saying about mixing pedestrians and traffic, I always walk facing oncoming trafficand never assume that someone sees me. Yeah, sometimes there is nothing but the street left after they set up a fruit stand. I just deal with it, not worth ruining your whole day over.

[Dave Hounddriver]

I just deal with it, not worth ruining your whole day over.

 

Triple like.  Although sometimes it does a man good to have a a bit of a rant and this forum is a great place to get it off your chest.

[Jake]

IS THIS LEGAL?

 

Hello Alby,

 

That question can be applied to just about anything you see on a busy street.  You noticed that the other side 

of the street also has no sidewalk.  No street parking, only sidewalk diagonal parking -- I guess to enhance

traffic flow?  Yeah right.......

 

The approving signatures of city planners, city permit office and the mayor's office are probably bought in order

to conduct business on many similar streets.  Sideways?  Forgetaboutit!  Not until a new sheriff's in town or a

new mayor with a new under the table negotiations because the new mayor declares it illegal -- the vicious cycle

continues.

 

Es mo pun walking the streets, especially at night.......

 

Respectfully -- Jake

PS -- Dave made an excellent comment about getting something off your chest.  Believe me, you're not the only

         one here.  Just prefix your topic with a RANT ALERT (like I do) and we will all have a group hug with MikeS

         having his groping hug......he, he.   

Edited September 6, 2014 by Jake
spil chek

[Methersgate]

Well, to be honest, the question never occurred to me - it's just a part of life's rich tapestry.

Is it legal for a farmer to spread his palay across the road to dry? 

 

A truly spectacular bit of bad parking comes to mind from 18 years ago....

 

A new night club had opened in Manila, it was much talked about, and for some reason a friend and I decided to pay a visit and see what it was "all about". We decided to go right after work so after allowing for traffic we arrived at about 7.30 in the evening and we were just abou the first customers. There was a big awning and a red carpet outside. We asked our driver to wait and in we went. We were shown to an upstairs room with low seating round cirular tables. We were approached by a very pretty girl who was wearing a blazer, a bikini bottom and high heels and nothing else and we bought a drink, We asked her age - she told us she was 16 and the daughter of a policeman in Makati. At that point we decided that this was not our sort of place, so we finished our drinks, paid, and went downstairs to leave.

 

A big black 4x4 was parked in the entrance. I mean IN the entrance - it was on the red carpet and it was practically blocking the doorway.

We didn't see the owner, who was no doubt in a private room, but we did see a couple of goons, so we very carefully did not notice the number plate, and left.

We were later told that this car belonged to the son of He Who Must Not Be Named, a man with, shall we say, a reputation...

[davewe]

My favorite pedestrian adventures are in Vietnam. In Ho Chi Minh City just walking on the sidewalk you take your life in your hands. The motorbikes use the sidewalks whenever they want to. After a few days you get used to it.

 

As to what's legal and enforced - I am sure that when I get on the freeway tonight everyone will be doing 55 also :)

[JJReyes]

There is usually an armed security guard next to the reserved parking spaces. He will help the driver park if you are a customer. Otherwise, keep away. Pedestrians are presumed to be poor so their place in the social hierarchy is lower. If you use a car or taxi, the establishment assumes you are a person of importance or wealth.

 

You can't apply Western standards to the Philippines. For example, after passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, all establishments had to accommodate everyone on wheelchairs irregardless of the costs. That includes wheelchair accessible pedestrian walkways. The Philippines passed a similar law. The difference is laws in the Philippines are merely suggestions. The difficulty is enforcement. 

 

By the way, pedestrian paths are relatively new in the Philippines. Electric and telephone lines are on wooden poles rather than underground. Show a Filipino photographs of a typical Western street and ask them to point out differences.

[i am bob]

There is usually an armed security guard next to the reserved parking spaces. He will help the driver park if you are a customer. Otherwise, keep away. Pedestrians are presumed to be poor so their place in the social hierarchy is lower. If you use a car or taxi, the establishment assumes you are a person of importance or wealth.

 

You can't apply Western standards to the Philippines. For example, after passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, all establishments had to accommodate everyone on wheelchairs irregardless of the costs. That includes wheelchair accessible pedestrian walkways. The Philippines passed a similar law. The difference is laws in the Philippines are merely suggestions. The difficulty is enforcement. 

 

By the way, pedestrian paths are relatively new in the Philippines. Electric and telephone lines are on wooden poles rather than underground. Show a Filipino photographs of a typical Western street and ask them to point out differences.

Gee, a picture of most towns and cities in Canada would show wooden pole holding the power, telephone and cable lines... And many subdivisions have no street-side sidewalks!

[jon1]

It is really about lack of enforcement of building codes (yeah right) and PPP (piss poor planning). Wait until he sees a road that gets expanded to 4 lanes (rare) and the outside lanes get quickly eaten up by sari sari stores and rice drying.  

 

How many times have we seen businesses built without supporting parking? I do a lot of SMDH these days. Even in the Freeport here I have seen a couple of examples of this. They opened a McDonalds a couple of years ago with a parking lot that will fit maybe 8 vehicles (double parked) and they have to back onto the main road where people come in from the SCTEX. They did do a drive thru which is probably most of their business but have the Air Handling Unit for the AirCon 8 feet from the microphone where you place your order (again SMDH, half the time they can't hear what you are ordering and you just place it at the window where you pay). 

 

Can you imagine the flack if ever the Philippines tried to employ "Eminent Domain" (which they do have within their laws) to expand the infrastructure (roads)? Every year I watch the roads get more congested as people keep buying more vehicles (motorcycles, cars, SUVs) and the road size stays the same (well, except for the encroaching shops). Their concept of road maintenance is just that, to rebuild perfectly good roads every year rather than expand and improve as their budget would be lowered by whatever they do not use the following year.. No idea of bypass roads (there are a few that I have encountered in the provinces) in the NCR and congested areas of Luzon.  I bet Jake would see no difference in the road system of Olongapo if he returned after all of these years and would know his way around. 

[scott h]

Can you imagine the flack if ever the Philippines tried to employ "Eminent Domain" (which they do have within their laws) to expand the infrastructure (roads)?

 

They did use it in my area, (before I moved here) and widened the main road in our area of metro. I asked my Bro in Law why so many buisnesses (tire changing, rice sellers, you name it) were spilling into the streets (no to mention trucks unloading deliveries) he just shrugged and said "democracy in action".

 

Bottom line is that it is hard to improve things (by our western standards) when the locals just shrug and accept it. Change usually comes about after public outcry of some sort. And nonce is gonna bitch about an illegal u turn when they might want to do it tommarrow lolololol