Court declares Metro Manila LGUs’ traffic ordinances legal

The Court of Appeals has declared as legal and constitutional the different traffic ordinances approved by local government units in Metro Manila.

In a 16-page order dated Dec. 17, 2012, the appellate court’s sixth division also denied the appeal of 11 transport groups that it order the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to draw up, install and administer a single ticketing system for all traffic violations in Metro Manila.

The transport groups earlier questioned the various traffic ordinances and corresponding penalties being implemented by different LGUs from 2003 to 2005. The petitioners included the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, Alliance of Concerned Transport Operators and Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, among other groups.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino, meanwhile, said the single ticketing system the agency implemented in March was consistent with the group’s petition for a unified traffic regulations implementing body, calling the move “prophetic.”

“There is no way the court decision will have an effect on the single ticketing system we implemented,” he added.—With a report from Jodee A. Agoncillo