High court ruling keeps provincial buses off Edsa
Credit to Author: Jomar Canlas, TMT| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:18:34 +0000
The Supreme Court has dismissed the petition challenging the provincial bus ban on EDSA being enforced by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
In a resolution last Tuesday, the court threw out the petition of Ako Bicol party-list representatives Ronald Ang and Alfredo Garbin Jr., Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda and the Bayan Muna party-list demanding that the MMDA lift the ban.
Named respondents were MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim and the Metro Manila Council (MMC) composed of the mayors of cities and municipalities in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila.
The Supreme Court ruled that the petitioners did not follow the hierarchy of courts in opposing the ban.
It said a case should have been filed first with the lower courts.
Ako Bicol had maintained that the MMDA and MMC had no authority to implement the ban
since they were not authorized to enact ordinances or approve resolutions.
The directive on the ban had neither legal nor scientific bases because it was crafted solely based on a “mere verbal directive” from President Rodrigo Duterte during a Cabinet meeting in October 2018, the party-list argued.
Salceda and Ako Bicol headed the filing of the petition, saying most of the affected commuters are from Bicol traveling to Metro Manila.
In the petition for Prohibition and Mandamus, Salceda called on the high court to issue a temporary restraining order or a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the MMDA from banning provincial buses from EDSA.
To enforce the ban, the MMDA revoked the business permits of bus terminals along EDSA, claiming the terminals contribute to traffic congestion in Metro Manila.