MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando went on record Friday to declare that there is no speed limit on busy Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA).

During the House subcommittee deliberations on the MMDA’s proposed P1.79-billion budget, Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez questioned Fernando’s use of “motorcycle security,” which the lawmaker called illegal since this is a privilege reserved for the president, vice president, Senate president, House speaker, Chief Justice and chief of the Philippine National Police.

But Fernando justified his motorcycle outriders, saying he was “implementing traffic rules” when he took them with him.

When Golez told the MMDA chairman that he didn’t need escorts since traffic had improved along EDSA and that vehicles were probably moving at around 60 kilometers per hour on the thoroughfare, Fernando replied: “Actually it’s more than that…You can drive as [fast] as you can.”

This irked Golez, who moved "to defer [the deliberations] because [the MMDA] budget might be used to promote traffic and accidents in EDSA," as he slammed Fernando's statements as "reckless and irresponsible."

“If drivers heeded this statement, EDSA would become a death avenue with all the resulting deadly collisions,” Golez later said in a text message, noting that the MMDA managed traffic on this major thoroughfare.

Golez had earlier moved to defer deliberations on the MMDA budget, citing a number of reasons including the absence of the Metro Manila Council’s endorsement of the agency’s proposed budget for next year.

The subcommittee chaired by Muntinlupa Representative Rufino Biazon eventually carried the motion, deferring deliberations on the MMDA budget until next week.

Earlier, Golez also questioned Fernando on the costs of tarpaulin signs that carry the MMDA’s image and are posted along EDSA.

Fernando claimed the signs "only cost over a thousand" pesos each and there are only about a hundred of them.

But Golez disputed Fernando's figures, citing news reports saying there are about 300 of the signs.

"This is a violation of the very regulation you signed," Golez pointed out, citing MMDA regulation 04-2004 which prohibits private or public corporations from installing "visual clutter," like posters, along major highways.

But Fernando maintained the tarpaulin signs are legal because he approved their posting.

"Maganda naman, ah [They are nice anyway]. I don't think hanging a poster could be detrimental to security...these are not commercial signs, it's the advocacy of the MMDA, Metro Gwapito [Handsome metro]," said Fernando when asked to justify the tarpaulin signs.

But Golez said the posters are not "a good idea" since Fernando has already made known his intention to run for president in 2010.

The solon also suggested during the hearing that removing the posters might improve Fernando's ratings in surveys.

Fernando later told reporters he expected the deferment, a move he said was politically motivated, because Golez loved to attack him.

But Golez said he had nothing personal against the MMDA chairman: “I just don’t like what he’s doing. His pink signs, for instance, are a visual pollution. Only he benefits from them.”