ANOTHER petition was filed before the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to enjoin the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from pushing through with its plan to ban all provincial buses from plying along Edsa and transfer their stations to Santa Rosa, Laguna, as part of the government’s measures to address traffic congestion in the metropolis.
In a 15-page petition, Albay Rep. Joey S. Salceda through his lawyer Caroline Cruz said the implementation of MMDA regulation 19-002, Series of 2019 “is utterly oppressive and unfair” and that it violates the requisites for a valid exercise of police power.
The said regulation passed last March 26, 2019, by the Metro Manila Council (MMC) and will be implemented next month prohibits all provincial buses from plying Edsa and revoking all permits issued for operation of bus terminals and other public-utility vehicles.
The regulation also designates Santa Rosa, Laguna, (South Station) and Valenzuela (North Station) as the endpoint for PUBs.
Salceda argued that Republic Act 7924, the law that creates the MMDA, does not give the agency police or legislative power to implement such measure.
“In issuing the MMDA regulation prohibiting and revoking permits to all affected PUBs along Edsa is already encroaching into the realm of a legislative body and not performing administrative functions which limits its authority under RA 7924,” the petition read.
While the ban on PUBs from Edsa was based on the order of President Duterte, the petitioner said its implementation should be based on existing law.
Salceda pointed out the MMDA regulation would violate PUBs’ existing franchises duly issued by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. (LTFRB) and the existing lease agreements between the operators of the PUBs and their terminal owners.
Salceda insisted the controversial measure is not the right solution to the traffic problem of Metro Manila and instead, would only cause “great economic disruption, inconvenience, expenses and damages to multitudes of commuters to and from as far as Visayas and the Bicol region.”
The lawmaker said the ban is unjust because it shifts the burden of inconvenience to provincial commuters, particularly students, and traders and ordinary families with relatives in Metro Manila who will have to transfer to another mode of transport and shell out extra fares.
He said the plan will not solve the traffic problem in Metro Manila because while 6,000 northbound and southbound provincial buses will be banned from plying Edsa, the LTFRB is expected to allow 14,000 new black-painted Premium Taxis to transport the more than 50,000 passengers daily from the stop-off points.
This would be on top of the 2,000 new P2P buses at both stop-off points to enter Edsa and thousands of new UV Express vans also to and from both stop-off points.
“How then will they reduce traffic when they will add an assortment of close to 20,000 new vehicles just so they can evict 6,000 provincial buses from Edsa? Add the Grab vehicles who will be paged by loyal riders to and from both stop-off points toward Edsa and what do we have?” he said.
Salceda said the MMDA should have managed the 800,000 utility vehicles, 400,000 cars, 120,000 trucks and 1.4 million tricycles fighting for every available space in the streets of Metro Manila, instead of banning the provincial buses from plying Edsa.
Earlier, the Ako-Bicol party-list group filed a similar petition before the Supreme Court, insisting the MMDA has no legal authority to implement the measure.
The group said the regulation was passed without public consultation, thus, violated “due process” or the right of the public to know and be heard over an issue affecting them prior to its implementation.
It added the MMDA’s statement that banning provincial buses to pass said thoroughfare would lighten the traffic congestion in Edsa is ill-advised and bereft of basis.