SC orders Metro Manila LGUs to cease traffic receipts, confiscate driver's licenses

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) ordered Metro Manila local government units (LGUs) to follow the the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s (MMDA) single ticketing system (STS) instead of using their own traffic violation receipts.

In a 42-page En Banc decision, the high court nullified sections of the LGU's various traffic codes that allowed the issuance of ordinance violation receipts (OVR).

“All told, the Court thus declares as invalid the common provision in the said traffic codes or ordinances of the LGUs in Metro Manila empowering each of them to issue OVRs to erring drivers and motorists. The other provisions of the traffic codes or ordinances remain valid and unaffected by this Decision,” the SC’s decision read.

The SC also emphasized that traffic enforcers, unless deputized by the MMDA, are not allowed to issue OVRs or confiscate licenses of erring motorists. 

According to the MMDA, the purpose of the STS is to harmonize the “existing laws on traffic enforcement and management in Metro Manila.”

This includes standardizing the fines and penalties for common traffic violations and “providing interconnectivity among government instrumentalities involved in transport and traffic management.”

MMDA's STS was institutionalized through the establishment of the Metro Manila Traffic Code of 2023, which was approved and adopted by the Metro Manila Council on Feb. 1, 2023.

The case stemmed when various transport groups contested the ticketing system of the 15 LGU respondents in December 2006.

The transport groups said that the OVR provisions, allowing LGUs to confiscate licenses and issue OVRs, violate both the Land Transportation Law and the MMDA law, which mandate the implementation of a single ticketing system for motorists committing infractions.

In this case, the petitioners also sought a petition for mandamus to compel the MMDA to implement the single ticketing system. 

While the petition was ongoing, in 2012, the MMDA introduced a standardized ticketing system.

The petition by the transport groups was junked by the Court of Appeals in 2012. However, the appellate court did not rule on whether the LGUs violated MMDA’s ticketing system.

The petitioners then filed a motion for reconsideration before the CA but was also denied.

This prompted the transport groups to file a petition with the Supreme Court, and the Court granted their request.

In declaring the provisions of traffic ordinances “null and void,” the high court emphasized that it does not encroach on the autonomy of the LGUs, instead, it ruled to uphold the structure of the MMDA law.  

“In this connection, the Court also finds that the autonomy of the LGUs will not be unduly undermined by the ruling in this case, as their interests are amply protected by the very structure of the MMDA as established by the MMDA Law,” the court’s decision read.