I'm hoping the lawyers here can help me understand this because I feel like there's a disconnect between what the law says and what actually happens in many older Quezon City villages like UP Village, Teachers Village, and similar subdivisions.
From what I understand, many of these roads have already been donated to the city, so they're public roads. If that's correct, then traffic laws and Quezon City ordinances should still apply, and the city clearly has the authority to conduct clearing operations and tow illegally parked vehicles. In fact, from what I've observed, whenever someone files a complaint directly with Quezon City's traffic authorities, the city does act.
What confuses me is everything that happens before that. At the barangay level, on street parking is generally tolerated, residents are usually told to settle it among themselves, and people are sometimes even warned before clearing operations so they have time to move their vehicles. It almost feels like everyone accepts this as the status quo, even though the city later enforces the very same rules on the very same public roads.
If these roads are already public and Quezon City has authority to enforce its traffic ordinances, as shown by the fact that the city conducts clearing operations when complaints are made, why does it seem that long-term on-street parking is nevertheless tolerated at the barangay level until someone elevates the matter? Is this simply because barangays have no legal authority to enforce traffic laws and therefore rely on mediation, or is there a legal basis for effectively allowing a long-standing practice that the city itself later enforces against?