Justice Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday opposed the enactment of laws seeking to prohibit the collection of parking fees in malls, hotels and other commercial establishments due to their possible violation of the constitutional right to equal protection of the law.

De Lima, in a reply to a request for opinion made by Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia, chair of the House committee on trade and industry, said she finds House Bill 1841, sponsored by Marikina Rep. Marcelino Teodoro and supported by HB 3233 and 3468, to be legally infirm.

She said there is no valid reason why the business of providing parking spaces for a fee may not also be undertaken by a mall or other commercial establishments, ‘so long as this is properly regulated.’

Citing a Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional an ordinance stopping the issuance of business permits to nightclubs in a municipality, she said absolute prohibition of an enterprise is illegal.

De Lima urged the House to instead consider House Bills No. 1837, also sponsored by Teodoro, which only seeks to regulate parking stations. Two other proposed laws – HB Nos. 2047 and 4535 – have a similar purpose.

In September 2009, the SC ruled that mall operators are not obligated to provide free parking space to their clients, as it dismissed the petition for certiorari filed by state lawyers seeking to enjoin mall operators from collecting parking fees from mall patrons.

The high court explained that prohibiting mall owners from collecting parking fees from the public would be tantamount to taking or confiscation of their properties without justification or just compensation. – Evangeline C. de Vera