National N WS
antl eventually t'lthin trletro Manlla.
he Supreme Court (SC) on
Turesday required the Metro
Manila Development Author-
ity ffMDA) to answer the
three p'etitions that challengod the
ban on provincial buses from plying
along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue
@DSA):
It was not known lmmediately if the
plea for a temporary restraining order
(tRO) against the ban was denied, or if
It will be tackled once MMDAS answer
te flled.
MMDA, which wes reported to have
shelved for further study the imple-
mentation of the ban under Regulation
No. 19-002, has 10 days from receipt of
tlie copy of the SO resolution to flle itg
an6wen
Earlieq the MMDA had said that the
regulation was aimed at easing traffic
along EDSA, a kaffic-clogged main thor-
oughfare that traverses several cities,'
public Act No. ?924 (An Acb Creating
The regulatioil proposed to move
the losdlng and unloading. ,ones of
the provinclal buses
'to the integrated
termlnal in Sta. Rosa in Laguna for
those coming from tho south, and to the
termlnal in Valenzuela City for those
coming from the north,
It also matldated local government
units to rsvoke or stop the issuance
of business permite to provlncial bus
operators for thelr terminals dlong
--iti! *tt".
EDSA.
petitions were frl{tl by
Reps, Ronald Ang and Alfredo Garbln
Jn of AKO Bicol Party-List, Albay Rep,
Joey Salceda, 8nd Bayan Muna chair
Neri Colmenares 8nd House memb€rs
identified with the Makabayan Bloc'
The three petitlone claimed that
MMDA "exceeded its powers" whef
it issued the regulation "because it
does not possess legislative nof police
powers."
Colmenares' group said that Re'
the MMDA rogulation, in efiect, wtluld
the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority) "did not grant the MMDA
with police pofer, nor legislative power'
and that all. of MMDA8 functions are
administrative in nature."
It added that the regulation "fail8
. the test of a valid police power mea-
sure."
AKO Bicol, on the other hand, said
the issuance of the regulation was tan:
tamount to an exercise of police power
which the MMDA and the Metro Manlla
Council ffMC) did not Possess.
"Thore ls rio single word or syllsblss
in the MMDA law that glants MMDA
police power, let alone legislatlve po$€r'
Even respondent MMC hss not been
detegated any legislative poweD" the
party-list $oup stressed.
It pointed out that provincial buses
were not the msin cauee of traffic con'
gestion along EDSA, but citybuses and
private motor vehicles.
Fbr his paf,t, Salceda told the SC that
.
pmhlbit the issuance or revoke all per-
mits granted to provincial bus operators
.
to maintain bus terminals and operate
their units along EDSA.
Salc€da said the regulation was
poor" since on$ provincial com'
"anti
muters would be affocted.
Citing MMDAS 2007 frgurcs, Salceda
said there are 9,300 provincial buses,
12,000 city buBes 8nd more than 247,000
private vehicles that pass along EDSA
l
dailv
;'Why ptck on residents from the
pmvinces to solve Metro Manila's traf'
fic," he lamented.
At the same time, the three Peti'
tions polnted out that there were no
public consultations conducted befor€
the MMDA regulation was issued.
"For the record, there was no
single public hearing conducted by
respondents MMC and MMDA Prior to
the regulatiorfs intended implementa-
stated.
tion..,," the petltions ]
'R-F\€€ +