MMDA: CA ruling won’t affect single ticket system

MANILA, Philippines - A Court of Appeals (CA) ruling upholding the authority of local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila to enforce their own traffic ordinances does not have any effect on the Uniform Ordinance Violation Receipt (UOVR) or single ticketing scheme already being used across the metropolis, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday.

“We welcome the CA ruling but the MMDA and the LGUs, with the support of transport groups, are already implementing UOVR since last year,” MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said.

The CA issued its ruling on Monday in case filed in 2006, six years before the UOVR was implemented, the MMDA said.

Tolentino said the UOVR scheme has been in effect since March 1, 2012 and is consistent with the public transport operators’ clamor to have a single traffic ticket within Metro Manila. He added that the UOVR scheme also did not nullify or disregard any of the LGUs’ traffic ordinances.

The UOVR ticket is recognized by all LGU traffic enforcers, the MMDA and by traffic enforcers of the Land Transportation Office.

With the use of the UOVR, a motorist whose driver’s license is confiscated for a traffic violation can use the single traffic violation ticket as a temporary license, the MMDA said.

A motorist issued an UOVR in one city for speeding could be issued another UOVR for beating the red light in another city, the MMDA said.

Motorists who are issued UOVR tickets by MMDA and LTO enforcers are given seven days to pay the fine imposed at any Metrobank branch. For LGU-issued UOVRs, violators will have five days to settle fines and redeem their license in the city where the apprehension took place.

Tolentino said the MMDA and the metropolis’ 17 LGUs are working to harmonize all local traffic ordinances toward the adoption of a Uniform Metro Manila Traffic Code.