MANILA, Philippines — The 17 mayors of Metro Manila have agreed to suspend the confiscation of driver’s licenses of erring motorists to give way to the creation of the proposed single ticketing system in the region.
They agreed to the request of Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos to impose a moratorium on confiscating driver’s licenses in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the meantime.
The moratorium will take effect while the NCR’s 17 local government units (LGUs), the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) are formulating the guidelines for the interconnectivity program that will be used for the single ticketing system, according to Abalos.
“I am asking for help from our colleagues at the MMDA and the new mayors: as we are talking about imposing a moratorium, perhaps, there’s no confiscation of driver’s licenses for the meantime while we are building the interconnectivity program, and they allowed me to do so,” he said in Filipino and English during a press briefing at the MMDA’s new headquarters in Pasig City yesterday.
Abalos was the MMDA chairman during the administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
City and municipal councils in Metro Manila will soon enact ordinances mandating the suspension to confiscate driver’s licenses.
Abalos explained that the interconnectivity program would enable Metro Manila LGUs, the MMDA and the LTO to maintain a common database that will register details of erring drivers apprehended anywhere in the region.
He noted that the LTO has the sole authority to seize driver’s licenses, despite the authority given to LGUs to enforce their own ordinances pursuant to the Local Government Code.
While driver’s licenses will not be confiscated, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) chief warned motorists that authorities would list the names of apprehended drivers, which would be given to the LTO during the period of the moratorium.
Abalos also announced that Metro Manila mayors and the MMDA vowed to make the penalties “lower” once they agree on the price range – which will apply anywhere in Metro Manila – of penalties for certain traffic violations under the single ticketing system.
“All penalties of LGUs shall be common. There will be no higher fees, there will be no lower fees; all will be unified. Generally, the penalty will be lower if it’s the one bumped into,” he said, referring to the proposal for common penalties.
MMDA Chairman Romando Artes said LGUs enforcing the controversial no-contact apprehension policy (NCAP) – like Quezon City, Manila, Valenzuela, San Juan and Parañaque – also agreed to lower the fines to match with common penalties in the single ticketing system.
The NCAP has been contested before the Supreme Court as it reportedly charged hefty penalties on traffic violators, among other issues.
The officials did not disclose the price range of the common fines yet as they continue to consult with various private and public transport groups.
The single ticketing system will impose common penalties across Metro Manila on the following violations of traffic rules: disregarding traffic sign, attended and unattended illegal parking, number coding, truck ban and light truck ban, reckless driving, unregistered motor vehicle, driving without license, tricycle ban, obstruction, illegal counterflow, overspeeding, loading and unloading in prohibited zones, driver’s arrogance or discourteous conduct, traffic violations under special laws and violations by motorcycle drivers, including dress code, overloading, defective motorcycle accessories and unauthorized modification.
Once a driver is apprehended anywhere in Metro Manila, he shall be given 10 days to pay the corresponding penalty.
Artes said erring motorists would be able to pay fines at common payment centers anywhere in Metro Manila, instead of paying at the town where he was caught.
The LTO, the MMDA and NCR LGUs will also determine the maximum demerit points to be given to erring motorists per violation, which will force Metro Manila traffic enforcers to confiscate driver’s license and eventually prevent the motorists from renewing it.
The said agencies will also ease the mechanism where traffic violators can contest their apprehension, according to Artes.
The single ticketing system will allow the MMDA and Metro Manila LGUs to “properly monitor” traffic apprehensions and implement the demerit system around the region, according to LTO chief Assistant Secretary Jose Arturo Tugade.
Tugade noted that the said system would become effective in the first quarter of 2023.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora, who is also the president of the Metro Manila Council, declared that his fellow Metro Manila mayors, who make up the said body, would support the ongoing formulation of the single ticketing system.
“This is another concern where we have seen the unity of Metro Manila mayors,” Zamora said.
Even Makati City, which has become infamous as a “republic” of its own because of its own traffic ordinance, including its own number coding system, has thrown its support behind the single ticketing system, according to Mayor Abby Binay.
Makati City Vice Mayor Monique Lagdameo, Pasay City Mayor Imelda Calixto-Rubiano and Mandaluyong City Mayor Benjamin Abalos Sr. – the DILG secretary’s father and namesake – also backed the upcoming single ticketing system.
The older Abalos, however, said he was apprehensive about motorists presenting “fake” traffic violation tickets.