LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines?Albay Governor Joey S. Salceda hailed the Supreme Court for issuing a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the value-added tax on toll rates and the 250-percent increase in toll fees on the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx.)

?It was our petition (that was) mainly cited by the SC in considering the issuance of a TRO,? Salceda said in a text message Saturday.

He said the court also ordered the consolidation of his petition with the other pending petitions and ordered the issuance of a TRO, considering the allegations contained, the issues raised and the arguments adduced in the petition.

Salceda said his petition for TRO simply explained that ?with the regulators itself a party to the toll hike, there was no one to turn to except the SC for protection against an imminent abuse.?

Last June, he asked the court to stop the SLEx's planned toll fee hike, saying the ?toll fees should not be increased by mere contract between the Toll Regulatory Board and its contracting parties thru the Supplemental Toll Operation Agreement (STOA). Without notice and hearing which are mandatory twin requisites of Section 3(d), P.D. 1112 (Toll Operation Decree), the increase in toll fees is null and void for the reason that such action violates a mandatory provision of law.?

With the 250-percent increase, private passenger vehicles would be paying P2.73 per kilometer over the current 82 centavos per kilometer.

Salceda said that under PD 1112, TRB's authority to enter into contracts in behalf of the Republic of the Philippines extends only to construction, operation and maintenance of toll facilities.

?Clearly, the TRB has committed a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it entered into a contract which includes, as part of its contractual provisions, the determination and fixing of toll rates, including its increase, in clear violation of its express and limited authority under PD 1112,? Salceda said.

Salceda added that such massive increase ?will prompt substantial negative consequences in the lives of ordinary citizens of the Bicol region.?