LTFRB questions Manila bus ban

Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista QC website

A legal roadblock may be standing in the way of Manila’s controversial traffic ordinance.

The head of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) expressed views challenging the legality of the four-day-old ban imposed by the Manila City government on buses that have no terminals in the city, setting the stage for a possible court battle on the measure.

“We maintain that the franchise that we have given the bus operators are still valid. We have given them an opinion that a city ordinance cannot supersede the franchise that we have given them,” LTFRB Chair Winston Ginez said in a statement on Thursday.

But Ginez clarified that the board would leave the filing of any case against the measure to the bus operators concerned, and that the Supreme Court could ultimately “decide on this.”

He added that while LTFRB shared Manila’s objective to ease traffic in the metropolis, the implementation of the ordinance must be within the bounds of the law.

‘LGUs have power over roads’

But according to Manila Vice Mayor Francisco Domagoso, the city’s “traffic czar,” the power to regulate the use of roads rests with local government units (LGUs) and that they should be “consulted first about our road and load capacities” before a national agency issues a franchise for public transportation.

“They are entitled to their opinion and their opinion is as good as ours,” Domagoso said. “But under the Local Government Code, it’s up to the local government unit to regulate roads.”

“LGUs have the power to withdraw any road for public use. They can close roads temporarily or permanently,” he said, citing Chapter 2, Section 21 of Republic Act No. 7160.

The vice mayor acknowledged that Manila’s bus ban would affect neighboring cities and inconvenience commuters, but explained that his city government had an obligation to solve local problems.

One close neighbor is indeed being forced to make some adjustments.

Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista on Thursday said he would seek a meeting with former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada regarding the ban, which has been causing traffic jams on one of Quezon City’s busiest thoroughfares.

Bautista said his immediate concern would be to look for a rerouting scheme for buses plying Quezon Avenue which were affected by the ban and were being forced to make a U-turn at Welcome Rotunda, which marks the border between the two cities.

“We are giving the City of Manila enough time to observe their policy. I will see if we have a schedule with stakeholders first before I meet with Mayor-President Estrada,” he said in a text message to the Inquirer, when asked if a formal complaint was forthcoming.

“I pity the students, senior citizens and employees who are residents of Quezon City, Marikina, Bulacan and Rizal province who are working and studying in Manila,” he earlier said in an interview.

Bautista said Quezon City will work with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to find routes within his city that could be used by the buses so they need not make their U-turn at Welcome and form a queue on Quezon Avenue.

The LTRFB chair’s view was shared by the head of Quezon City’s Department of Public Order and Safety, Elmo San Diego, who said the ban in Manila practically violates the terms of the bus franchise since their drivers are being forced to “cut trips.”

San Diego said the Quezon City government was taken by surprise and was thus unable to draw up a plan for the impact of the Manila ordinance.