Exclusive traffic rules enforcement

Dear Atty. Angela,

I was apprehended by a Pasay City police officer for violating the traffic sign where I supposedly beat the red light. He confiscated my driver’s license and I had to go to the City Hall to pay and claim my license. I heard that there is a recent decision of the Supreme Court which clarifies the authority of the local government unit police officers to confiscate driver’s license and issue ordinance violation receipts to erring drivers. Are they no longer allowed to do so?

Anthony

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Dear Anthony,

The Supreme Court has recently ruled that the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has exclusive authority to enforce traffic laws, rules and regulations, declaring that the local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila may participate in such functions only when their traffic enforcers are deputized by the MMDA.

In the case of Federation of Jeepney Operators v. Government of Manila City, G.R. 209479 (2023), the Supreme Court ruled that the MMDA Law clearly bestowed upon the MMDA all the rule-making powers relative to traffic management in Metro Manila.

Under the MMDA Law, the MMDA was tasked to provide metro-wide services to Metro Manila, without prejudice to the autonomy of the affected LGUs. One of the functions assigned to the MMDA is “transport and traffic management,” which includes the “administration and implementation of all traffic enforcement operations and the institution of a single ticketing system in Metro Manila.”

Thus, the MMDA was given the task of installing and administering a “single ticketing system” and to fix, impose, and collect fines and penalties for all kinds of violations of traffic rules and regulations, and confiscate and suspend or revoke drivers’ licenses in the enforcement of such traffic laws and regulations.

The Court directed the LGUs, particularly those who have not manifested that they have been complying with the MMDA Joint Circular implementing the single ticketing system in Metro Manila, (1) to desist from continuing to implement the common provision in the Ordinances in their respective territorial jurisdictions, and (2) to bar their respective traffic enforcers from issuing OVRs and from confiscating the driver’s licenses of erring motorists, unless they have been deputized by the MMDA.

Atty. Angela Antonio