SC resumes NCAP oral arguments

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) will resume tomorrow the oral arguments on the constitutionality of the no-contact apprehension policy or NCAP enforced by several local government units in Metro Manila. The SC will resume the debates on NCAP at around 2 p.m., with Associate Justice Japar Dimaapao interpellating Solicitor General Menardo Gue-varra, who is representing the respondents for the government.

During a hearing last December, the petitioners said the NCAP should be scrapped as it violates the Constitution and overreaches some laws involving traffic and the privacy of the mo-torists.

“The traffic scheme was issued with grave abuse of discretion as it contravenes the Constitution and existing statutes, which prejudices the rights of the petitioners,”

Greg Pua Jr., law-yer for the transport groups assailing the NCAP, said.

The petitioners also raised the excessive fines imposed on traffic violators.

“The fines imposed under the NCAP warrant the declaration of its invalidity. A regulatory fee must not produce revenue in excess of the cost of regulation because such fee will be con-strued as an illegal tax,” Pua said.

Lawyer Juman Paa also filed a petition before the SC after he was fined P20,000 by the city government of Manila for a traffic infraction.

He questioned how the local government’s traffic scheme and the Land Transportation Office (LTO) have been accosting owners and operators of vehicles instead of those who are driving them.

In response to the petitioners, Guevarra said the LGUs implementing the NCAP have the right to enact ordinances on traffic measures pursuant to their police power under the Local Government Code.

Respondents in one of the petitions are Manila, Quezon City, Valenzuela, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and the LTO. The other petition named the city council of Manila and Mayor Honey La-cuna as respondents.

The implementation of the NCAP has been suspended since the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the SC in August last year. Chief Justice Alexander

Gesmundo earlier said the high court intended to “resolve all pending cases that have public interest this year,” including the NCAP.
The NCAP is implemented by private service provider QPax Traffic Systems Inc., which gets up to 70 percent share of the fines, for the governments of Caloocan,

Manila, Parañaque, Quezon City, San Juan and Valenzuela, as well as along EDSA by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.
The scheme drew flak from public utility vehicle operators and private vehicle owners due to excessive fines imposed even for minor violations.