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THE
Supreme Court (SC), voting 15-0, has issued a ruling
stopping the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)
from implementing an executive order which authorizes
the agency to shut down provincial bus terminals and
major thoroughfares of Metro Manila as part of the
government’s campaign to ease traffic congestion.
In a
28-page decision penned by Associate Justice Conchita
Carpio-Morales, the Court en banc unanimously declared
that under the law, it is the Department of
Transportation and Communications (DOTC), and not the
MMDA, that has the power to establish and administer the
comprehensive and integrated program for transportation
and communications.
 With
this, the Court affirmed the September 8, 2003, and
November 23, 2005, orders of the Regional Trial Court (RTC)
in Manila, which declared President Arroyo’s Executive
Order (EO) 179 Providing for the Establishment of
Greater Manila Mass Transport System Project, or
GMA-MTSP, as unconstitutional.
The SC
explained that under EO 125, Reorganizing the Ministry
of Transportation and Communications, Defining its
Powers and Functions and for Other Purposes, issued by
former President Aquino, it is the DOTC and not the MMDA
which is authorized to establish or cause the
implementation of projects such as the GMA-MTSP.
“Thus,
the President, although authorized to establish or cause
the implementation of the project, must exercise the
authority through the DOTC, which, by law, is the
primary implementing and administrative entity in the
promotion, development and regulation of networks of
transportation, and the one so authorized to establish
and implement a project such as the project in
question,” the SC noted.
The
Court, likewise, noted that under Republic Act 7924, the
law creating the MMDA, its powers and functions
administrative in nature, thus, it could not have
validly designated by the President to implement EO 179.
The SC
also said that the scope of MMDA’s function has been
settled in MMDA vs Bel Air Village Association Inc. In
the said case, the Court noted that the powers of MMDA
are limited to the “formulation, coordination,
regulation, implementation, preparation, management,
monitoring, setting of policies, installation of a
system and administration.”
“This
Court commiserates with the MMDA for the roadblocks
thrown in the way of its efforts at solving the
pestering problem of traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
These efforts are commendable, to say the least, in the
face of the abominable traffic situation of our roads
day in and day out,” the Court said.
“Even
then, for reasons which bear reiteration, the MMDA
cannot order the closure of respondents’ terminals not
only because no authority to implement the project has
been granted nor legislative or police power been
delegated to it, but also because the elimination of the
terminals does not satisfy the standards of a valid
police power measures,” the SC added.
The
Court explained that it does not see how the removal of
provincial bus terminals can considered a necessity to
ease traffic congestion in the metropolis. Such measure,
according to the Court, might just create traffic in the
areas around the MMDA-designated parking areas.
“On the
contrary, the elimination of bus terminals brings forth
the distinct possibility and the equally harrowing
reality of traffic congestion in the common parking
areas, a case of transference from one site to another,”
the Court noted.
In
addition, the Court held that the closure of the
provincial bus terminals is in violation of the Public
Service Act, which compels public service to “maintain
and operate any reasonable extension of its existing
facilities” for the protection and comfort of their
customers.
The case
stemmed from the complaint filed by bus operators Viron
Transportation Co. Inc. and Mencorp Transportation
System Inc., before the RTC in Manila questioning the
authority of the MMDA and its chairman, Bayani Fernando,
to order the closure of their terminals.
Prior to
the filing of the complaint, Arroyo issued EO 179 on
February 10, 2003, which states that the primary cause
of traffic congestion in Metro Manila has been the
numerous buses plying the streets and the inefficient
connectivity of the different transport modes.
The EO
also noted that the MMDA had recommended a plan to
decongest traffic by eliminating the bus terminals
located along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and other
major thoroughfares, and providing more and convenient
access to the mass transport system which is referred to
under the EO as the GMA-MTSP.
The EO,
thus, designated the MMDA as the implementing agency for
the project.
In their
petition, the bus operators asked the lower court to
declare as unconstitutional the MMDA move to close their
terminals.
In its
decision issued January 24, 2005, the trial court
sustained the constitutionality of EO 179 and MMDA’s
authority to implement it.
However,
acting on the motions for reconsideration of the bus
operators, the trial court on
September 8, 2005 reversed its decision and declared that EO 179 was “an
unreasonable exercise of police power,” and that the
MMDA has no authority to order the removal of the
terminals of the complainants.
The
MMDA’s motion for reconsideration was denied prompting
it to elevate the case before the SC through a petition
for certiorari. |
