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By Jayson Cruz Luna Contributor
MAYOR Jejomar Binay of Makati
said Executive Order 712 cannot supersede a national law based on
the provisions of the Local Government Code, or Republic Act 7160,
which states that local governments have the sole authority to
regulate traffic in their respective jurisdictions.
He also said Makati will not
suspend the implementation of its own traffic code despite the
reported threat that charges will be filed against local chief
executives who will refuse to comply with EO 712, which puts into
place in Metro Manila a single traffic citation ticket for
apprehended motorists.
The new system will be
implemented by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), which
Binay once headed.
Binay said that EO 712 is another
illegal order issued by the Palace.
“President [Gloria] Arroyo was
surely ill-advised when she signed the EO. If the administration
will file charges against us, then go ahead, make my day,” Binay
said.
“The Supreme Court has already
defined the limits of the MMDA’s mandate, ruling that it has
neither legislative nor police powers. Decisions of the Supreme
Court are part of the law of the land,” Binay added.
The mayor said two Supreme Court
rulings have defined the mandate of the MMDA as a purely
administrative agency tasked to coordinate development projects in
Metro Manila.
Binay is one of the few Metro
Manila mayors who opposed the implementation of the single ticketing
system.
Earlier, the Court of Appeals
junked the petition filed by various transport groups for the
issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent local
governments from issuing their own traffic citation tickets to
apprehended motorists.
Pasay City scores MMDA
Pasay City Traffic and Parking
Management Office Head Florencio Mateo also accused MMDA Chairman
Bayani Fernando of “masterminding” Tuesday’s massive
transportation strike, which paralyzed 80 percent of public
transport in Metro Manila.
Mateo explained that Fernando
could no longer wait for the decision of the appellate court so the
MMDA chairman had to resort to other “dirty tactics”. He did not
elaborate.
“When the transport groups
cannot get the TRO from the Court of Appeals, they staged a
transport strike. Is this due process? Why don’t we just wait for
the court’s decision to find out who is right,” he said in
Filipino.
Besides Makati and Pasay City,
the other local units in Metro Manila that opposed the single
ticketing system are San Juan, Navotas and Taguig.
Manila originally opposed the
system. But as of Wednesday, Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila said he
will cooperate in the implementation of EO 712.
“The City of Manila will
implement the provisions of Executive Order No. 712 that mandates a
single ticketing system in the metropolis and this will happen in
consonance with Republic Act 4136 or the Land Transportation and
Traffic Code,” Lim said in a statement.
With James Konstantin Galvez and Rommel C. Lontayao
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