THE Supreme Court has ordered local government units in Metro Manila to stop issuing their own traffic violation receipts (TVR) and confiscating the driver’s licenses of erring motorists, telling them to comply with the single ticketing system of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
In a 41-page decision promulgated on July 11, 2023 but only made public last Monday, the Court en banc granted the petition for review filed by the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and various transport groups seeking the reversal of the Court of Appeals’ decision dated December 7, 2012 and resolution dated October 3, 2013 which declared the assailed ordinances legal and constitutional.
In its decision, the High Court said the ordinances, 15 in all, are invalid for violation of Republic Act No. 7924 or the Metro Manila Development Authority Law, which gives the agency the exclusive power to come up with policies concerning traffic in the metropolis and to coordinate and regulate the implementation of all programs and projects concerning traffic.
Section 5 of the law mandates the MMDA to “install and administer single ticketing system and confiscate and suspend or revoke driver’s licenses in the enforcement of such traffic laws and regulations.”
“All things considered, the Court hereby abandons the pronouncement in Garin and so holds that the MMDA possesses rule-making powers with regard specifically to traffic management in Metro Manila,” the SC decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa said.
“To be clear, the Court maintains that Bel-Air was correct, in that the MMDA does not exercise police power or legislative power, unlike LGUs which are given ordinance powers by the Local Government Code. The Court only clarifies that in his case, as an exception therein, the MMDA has the primary rule-making powers relating to traffic management in Metro Manila,” it added.
Sought for comment, MMDA Chairperson Romando Artes said the agency’s legal department is still studying the SC’s decision.
The SC said the power of LGUs to regulate the streets is valid only insofar as they pertain to “purely local matters” such as, but not limited to, determination of one-way streets, regulation of alleys and inner streets, prohibiting the putting up of encroachments and obstacles and authorizing the removal of such obstacles.”
“And even as that power continues to inhere in the LGUs, that power is circumscribed and limited by the regulations that may be issued by the MMDA,” the SC said.
The SC stressed that having established that the common provision of the assailed ordinances is inconsistent with the MMDA Law, it shall “unavoidably be considered stricken off and deemed inoperative.
“All told, the Court thus declares as invalid the common provision in the said traffic codes or ordinances of the LGUs in Metro Manila empowering each of them to issue OVRs to erring drivers and motorists. The other provisions of the traffic codes or ordinances remain valid and unaffected by this decision,” the SC added.
The SC directed LGUs to “desist from continuing to implement the common provision in the ordinances in their respective territorial jurisdictions and to bar their respective traffic enforcers from issuing ordinance violation receipts and from confiscating the driver’s licenses of erring motorists unless they have been deputized by the MMDA.”
Covered by the SC order are the cities of Makati, Taguig, Paranaque, Pasay, Quezon City, San Juan, Navotas, Las Piñas, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Caloocan, Manila, and the municipality of Pateros.
The SC also directed all LGUs to comply with the Joint Metro Traffic Circular No. 12-01 issued in 2012 by the MMDA which sets the guidelines for the implementation of the Uniform or Single Ticketing System in Metro Manila.
Under the Joint Circular, the Uniform Ticketing System shall be implemented within the 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila.
Through the single ticketing system, erring motorists shall be issued a unified ordinance violation receipt which will be recognized by the MMDA, the Land Transportation Office and all LGU traffic operatives as a valid traffic citation receipt and temporary driver’s license.
MMDA records showed that as of 2021, Metro LGUs that have complied with the circular and implemented the single ticketing system were Mandaluyong, San Juan, Manila, Taguig, Pasig, and Paranaque.
However, San Juan, Pasig, Paranaque and Taguig stressed that while they have been implementing the single ticketing system, the penalties and surcharges continuously differ because each of them is still implementing their local ordinances in the exercise of their local autonomy.
The SC assured LGUs that their autonomy will not be undermined by the ruling “as their interest are amply protected by the very structure of the MMDA as established by the MMDA Law.”
