Court junks Dasma suit vs MMDA

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday won its legal battle against Dasmariñas Village over the constitutionality of the agency's decision to open the village's private roads to motorists.

This developed after Makati City Regional Trial Court Judge Roberto Diokno junked the petition for "injunction with prayer for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order" filed by the Dasmariñas Village Association, Inc., led by its president Francisco Holigores against the traffic scheme implemented by MMDA chairman Jejomar Binay on Dec. 20.

In a four-page decision, Diokno said that the temporary opening of private roads of Dasmariñas Village by the MMDA "is a concrete expression and eloquent implementation of MMDA's mandate to complement government's efforts in addressing problems with metro-wide impact, in general, and to act for the promotion of safe and convenient movement of goods and persons."

Diokno cited that the creation of the MMDA through Republic Act 7924 is an exercise of police power and that "its act to open the private roads of Dasmariñas to ease traffic on EDSA is justifiable."

"The traffic problem has not since diminished in magnitude and extent; On the contrary; it has downright and steadily grown to alarming and serious proportions. Against this background, and in the in the interest of public welfare and convenience, in the perception of the court, it is not too much to ask of the petitioner and intervenors to help in the alleviation of the problem by taking little sacrifices (in) sharing some of their roads with the traveling public," Diokno said.

Diokno explained that the issues raised by Holigores are the same issues to be passed upon by the court in the injunction case and as such "the court does not see the necessity of hearing the petition for injunction."

"To conduct a hearing on the petition for injunction anchored on grounds already resolved by the court will only entail a useless exercise and unnecessary waste of judicial time," Diokno said.

In its petition for TRO, Holigores noted that the opening of their private roads would result in grave and irreparable injury to their persons and properties since non-residents would freely enter Dasmariñas. It is home to at least 60 embassies and consular officials and the opening of the roads to the motorist would unduly expose them to terrorist and similar attacks, he said.

Holigores said that it will likewise endanger the health and safety of the residents of the village and the students of Colegio de San Agustin and they expect a deterioration in the environment of the village with the inevitable increase in the noise and air pollution caused by the influx of vehicles.

He said that the opening of their private roads will not solve traffic congestion in EDSA but it will only transfer the traffic from one choke point to another since Mckinley road is already packed with traffic exiting from the C-5 road.

However, Diokno said that the claim of Holigores and the intervenors that the use of their private roads will result in grave and irreparable injury to their persons and properties "are, at best, mere conjectues and speculations unsupported by any factual basis."

Under Binay's scheme, the private roads of Dasmariñas, namely Amorsolo street, Banyan road, and Palm Avenue will be opened to private light vehicles from Monday to Friday, from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Binay said that opening of the private roads of the Dasmariñas Village was dictated by the desire of the agency to relieve the traffic congestion along EDSA brought about by the construction of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) III. The passage through Dasmariñas roads is effective only from Dec. 20, to Feb. 28.