MMDA says action taken on SUV with '12' plate using bus carousel lane

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:14 p.m.) — The Metro Manila Development Authority said Thursday that it had taken action on a report that a vehicle with a Number 12 protocol plate was driving inside the lane that should have been exclusively for the EDSA bus carousel.

"We’ve prepared a report on this and we’ve forwarded this to the concerned office," the MMDA said on Twitter in Filipino, in response to former Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada who reported the vehicle over social media.

Hi @MMDA… what is your policy with the use of carousel bus lanes…? A Land Cruiser with plate #12 (a feeling entitled public official) was using the lane at 11:50am-12noon. Saw this approaching Guadalupe bridge EDSA northbound today. pic.twitter.com/ejNfpBzz1K

— Erin Tañada (@erintanada) December 29, 2022

"What is your policy with the use of carousel bus lanes? A Land Cruiser with Plate #12 (a feeling entitled public official) was using the lane at 11:50 a.m. to 12 noon. Saw this approaching Guadalupe bridge EDSA northbound today," Tañada said on Twitter.

The MMDA's Twitter account later said the report was sent to its Traffic Discipline Office — the unit tasked with enforcing traffice rules. It also said that emergency vehicles and government vehicles responding to emergencies can use the lane. 

In October, the owner of a sports car spotted using the lane reserved for Public Utility Buses and marked government vehicles responding to emergencies was fined P1,000 and had his license suspended for 90 days.

Plate number 12 is reserved for Cabinet undersecretaries, according to Executive Order No. 400-A issued by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2006.

The use of low-numbered plates was first introduced by then President Carlos Garcia in 1958 but the practice was scrapped by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1978.

Between this time and the issuance of Arroyo’s first EO on low-numbered plates in 2005, certain government officials received exemptions for them to use these protocol plates, which resulted in their proliferation. — Xave Gregorio