TRAFFIC VIOLATION | SC orders Metro Manila LGUs to comply with MMDA’s traffic ticketing system

March 5, 2024 , 05:25 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(March 5, 2024) – The Supreme Court has ordered 15 local governments in the national capital region to stop issuing tickets and confiscating the licenses of erring drivers unless deputized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

In a 44-page decision, the Supreme Court (SC) en banc declared null and void a common provision in the traffic ordinances of all cities and a lone municipality in Metro Manila – except for Malabon and Marikina – on the issuance of traffic violation tickets or “ordinance violation receipts” (OVR) to erring drivers.

This granted a petition for review on certiorari from several transport groups, reversing a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that threw out their bid to nullify these provisions for violating the MMDA law.

“A permanent injunction is hereby issued to enjoin respondent local government units from: (1) further issuing Ordinance Violation Receipts; and (2) confiscating licenses through their own traffic enforcers, unless they are deputized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority,” the ruling read.

Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa penned the decision, which was promulgated on July 11, 2023 but uploaded on the SC website on Monday. There were 12 justices who concurred, while one associate justice, Amy Lazaro-Javier, dissented.

The petition, filed by 11 jeepney and bus operators’ groups back in 2006, stemmed from the move of the 15 Metro Manila LGUs to separately pass ordinances that provided for the issuance of a traffic violation ticket on any person who violates the local traffic rules.

The petitioners averred that these provisions violated a section of the MMDA law, which authorized the office to install and administer a single ticketing system, collect fines for traffic violations, and confiscate the licenses of erring drivers in the national capital region.

The variance of tickets and penalties separately imposed by LGUs, the LTO, and the MMDA has also resulted in confusion to motorists in the capital, the petitioners said.

The respondent LGUs said the MMDA cannot impose the single ticketing system because it only has administrative powers and lacks police power, as stated in previous SC rulings such as the MMDA v. Garin case.

The Court of Appeals threw out the petition in 2013 for lack of merit.

The SC decided to abandon an “obiter dictum” pronouncement it made on the MMDA v. Garin case, specifically regarding the agency’s lack of police power, noting that the MMDA law provided an exception regarding its rule-making power on traffic management in Metro Manila.

“While the Court recognizes that LGUs (local government units) possess delegated legislative powers, and thus may enact regulations to promote the general welfare of the people, the fact remains that as agents of the State, it is incumbent upon them to act in conformity to the will of their principal,” the ruling read.

The MMDA said its legal department will study the decision in full first before commenting on the SC decision.

(MM)

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