MMDA eyes citizen’s arrest for ‘abusive’ motorists

MANILA, Philippines — Enforcers of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) may soon carry out citizen’s arrests of “abusive” motorists, an official said yesterday.

“We were told that we can do a citizen’s arrest if we are being assaulted as an agent of a person in authority,” MMDA Task Force Special Operations supervisor Edison Nebrija said in a radio interview.

His unit and the agency’s legal department held a conference last week to discuss the charges to be filed against a motorcycle passenger who allegedly assaulted MMDA traffic enforcers who flagged her and her boyfriend down along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City for not wearing her helmet and instead using it to carry cooked food.

The MMDA’s legal department is still gathering statements from traffic enforcers present during the incident, in which the woman allegedly cursed at and hit one of the enforcers with her helment, Nebrija said.

The woman could be charged with slight physical injuries and assault upon an agent of a person in authority while her boyfriend could lose his driver’s license, he added.

Nebrija said the principle that MMDA enforcers have no power to effect an arrest had been drilled into them but one of the agency’s lawyers told him they could do a citizen’s arrest.

“We were told that the very time a threat has been hurled at any agent of a person in authority, you can employ citizen’s arrest,” he added.

However, MMDA traffic enforcers should possess the proper knowledge of legal technicalities and training to carry out a citizen’s arrest, Nebrija said.

“We need our men trained in this, including the proper way to make an arrest because we cannot just throw them down and handcuff them,” he said.

The MMDA could seek help from resource people, such as an official of the Highway Patrol Group, to train them on properly carrying out a citizen’s arrest.