Lina: MMDA has police powers

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), based on provisions of the very law which created it, has police powers and has the authority to confiscate the driver’s licenses of motorists violating traffic laws.

Former senator and Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Joey Lina made this clear as he defended the agency against those questioning its powers and functions and are even moving for its abolition.

In a nine-page speech delivered at the University of the Philippines last week, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR, Lina stressed that Metro Manila is a political subdivision of 17 cities and municipalities.

The MMDA, he said, was established three years after the 1987 Constitution was ratified and the President was granted the authority to constitute the Metropolitan Authority.

Then President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order No. 392 dated Jan. 9, 1990 constituting the Metropolitan Manila Authority (MMA) which later evolved to become the MMDA following the enactment of Republic Act 7924, also known as the MMDA Charter.

Lina said the agency was vested with "planning, monitoring, and coordinative functions and, in the process, exercise regulatory and supervisory authority over the delivery of metro-wide services within Metro Manila without diminution of the autonomy of local government units (LGUs) concerning purely local matters."

RA 7924, he noted, included development planning, transport and traffic management, solid waste disposal and management; flood control and sewerage management, urban renewal, zoning, land use planning and shelter services, health and sanitation, urban protection and pollution control; and public safety as among the metro-wide services it can offer.

Lina stressed that the law vested the MMDA with powers so it can carry out its mandate, including police power.

Of its seven specific powers, the sixth explains and answers all questions and confusions over the agency’s authority over traffic management.

It provides, among other things, that the MMDA is to "install a single ticketing system" which was realized through the Metro Traffic Ticket (MTT) system.

Lina added that it also clearly states that the MMDA can "confiscate and suspend or revoke driver’s licenses in the enforcement of such traffic laws and regulations in Metro Manila."

"What lends confusion to the controversy is a ruling by the Supreme Court that the MMDA possesses no police power," Lina said, citing another court ruling which states that the MMDA, through the Metro Manila Council (MMC), has the power to promulgate administrative rules and regulations in the implementation of the MMDA’s functions.

"The question now is this: Is it not an established rule that the power to promulgate rules and regulations is part and parcel or police power?" Lina asked.

Defining police power based on the Philippine Law Dictionary by Moreno, Lina emphasized that the MMDA, possesses rule-making power promulgated in the form of rules and regulations and the likes.

"Even a cursory reading of the provisions of Section 5 of RA 7924 will show that the MMDA can exercise its powers and functions without the need of prior legislative authority from the LGUs of Metro Manila," he stressed.

"Section 10 of RA 7924 also vests the MMDA with the power to levy fines and impose fees and charges for various services rendered. This, again, does not require prior legislative authority from the LGUs of Metro Manila," he added. — Michael Punongbayan