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By Jayson Cruz Luna, Contributor
Metro Manila mayors unanimously agreed on Friday
a Metro Manila Council (MMC) resolution that practically gave
recognition to the local traffic ticket being used by local
government units, and set aside the single ticketing system for traffic violators as stipulated under
Executive Order 712 earlier issued earlier by President Gloria
Arroyo.
Metro Manila City Mayors League president
and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos said the mayors agreed to
recognize the Ordinance Violation Receipts (OVRs) of local
governments, while at the same time honoring the traffic enforcement
powers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on all
national roads in Metro Manila as a compromise move.
“Single ticketing system is a matter of how
you interpret it. It could be uniform, it could be different tickets
with reciprocity and harmony,” Abalos said after the two-hour long
MMC meeting at the office of the MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando.
The MMC is the policy-making body of the MMDA.
Among the local executives who attended the
meeting include Vergel Aguilar of Las Pinas City, Sigfrido Tinga of
Taguig, Wenceslao Trinidad of Pasay, Enrico Echiverri of Caloocan,
Tobias Tiangco of Navotas and Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan.
Quezon City Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista and also
attended, while Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, who was very vocal in
opposing EO 712, sent Lawyer Violeta Seva to the meeting.
Abalos said they formed a technical
working group (TWG) composed of various traffic agencies to come up
with a recommendation on other pressing issues within a 30-day
period.
Status quo in use of traffic tickets
He said a status quo will be observed during the
30-day period, wherein the OVRs issued by local governments and the
Traffic Violation Receipts issued by the MMDA will be honored.
The mayors have also delineated the
function of the MMDA, allowing it to enforce its own traffic rules
and regulation within national roads, while the local governments
maintain their own enforcers within the local roads.
On the clamor of transport groups to
harmonize traffic rates, Abalos said they have already synchronized
40 percent of traffic rates and are still in the process of
reviewing the rates imposed by other localities.
But this early, Abalos expressed it would
be difficult to reduce traffic fines in some localities, owing to
the complicity and nature of traffic situations in some areas.
He cited the case of Makati, which he admits,
commands uncharacteristically high rates because of its unique
traffic situation.
He also said the mayors will be honoring all
traffic tickets issued by other localities. “Traffic enforcers who
will not adhere to this agreement will be fired,” he said.
Fernando, who presided over the meeting, was
visibly not ecstatic about the decision to reject the
agency-administrated Metropolitan Traffic Ticket.
He said the MMDA will continue to follow the
rates for traffic violations set by the Land Transportation Office (LTO).
Asked if the mayors’ decision resulted to the
rejection of the EO 712, Fernando said “no.”
“This talk [with mayors] is actually brought
about by that executive order. There has been a decision before by
the council that doesn’t seem to work well with the transport
group. They [transport group] have some complaint about it, with the
EO 712, it gave us the opportunity to revisit all these things,”
Fernando said.
The TWG is composed of traffic officials
from the local governments, representatives from the MMDA, LTO, Land
Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, Department of
Transportation and Communication and the public transport sector.
The working group would come up with a
uniform and harmonized schedule of fees and penalties which the MMC
would adopt in a resolution within 30 days after its submission.
Fernando said that the TWG would be tasked with
formulating the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed
MMDA resolution adopting the OVR as the uniform traffic ticket, and
harmonizing traffic fines and penalties.
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