Court told: City mayors tasked MMDA to enforce smoking ban

Lawyers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) told a Mandaluyong court on Friday that the agency had been deputized by the Metro Manila Council (MMC) composed of city mayors to implement the antitobacco law.

A resolution signed by heads of the local government units in Metro Manila was presented during the hearing on the motion for reconsideration which the agency had filed to reverse the 20-day temporary restraining order against the smoking ban.

The MMC Resolution 11-19 tasked the MMDA to enforce Republic Act 9211, also known as Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003, and antismoking ordinances of the local government units, the lawyers argued.

On Aug. 15, Judge Carlos Valenzuela of Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court Branch 213 ordered the MMDA to stop enforcing its smoking ban on minor and major thoroughfares based on the petition of two security guards apprehended for smoking in Cubao, Quezon City.

“We have enough evidence. The place where (the two petitioners) were apprehended was a public place, where many people were converging from the mall and the MRT (Metro Rail Transit),” Tina Velasco, MMDA’s assistant general manager and spokesperson, told reporters.

Doctors of the Philippine Medical Association attended the hearing in support of the MMDA drive.