Authorities will enforce the 60-kilometers-per-hour speed limit on Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares in a bid to reduce road accidents in the metropolis.
All vehicles, except buses and trucks, traveling along radial and circumferential roads will be covered by the new policy. Violators will be slapped with a P1,000 fine for every offense.
Metro Manila Development Authority spokesperson Assistant Secretary Pircelyn Pialago said concerned local government units in Metro Manila “shall ensure the full implementation of this regulation.”
“The regulation shall be effective five days after its publication in two newspapers of general circulation and submission of a copy thereof with the office of the national administrative register, UP Law Center,” she said.
Pialago said the supposed date of the policy’s actual implementation was Dec. 19 last year.
“It could be April 9 or not. We will update you. So far, we have no instruction. At least now we have basis on the technicalities/specifics of the policy,” she said.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Friday asked the Senate to act on the bill it has approved, enhancing the effectiveness of the Metropolitan Manila Council in formulating policies, rules, regulations, and enacting ordinances.
House Bill 6973, principally authored by Rep. Winston Castelo of Quezon City, amends Republic Act 7924, which created the MMDA, to strengthen the policy-making authority of the Metro Manila Council.
The bill has been approved on third and final reading at the House.
Castelo’s bill mandates the Metro Manila Council to issue ordinances that shall have the full force and effect of law in Metro Manila.
On the speed limit, the policy would be imposed on the following roads:
Circumferential Roads
– Recto Avenue
– Pres. Quirino Avenue
– Araneta Avenue
– EDSA
– C.P. Garcia Avenue
– Southeast Metro Manila Expressway
Radial Roads
– Roxas Boulevard
– Taft Avenue
– South Luzon Expressway
– Shaw Boulevard
– Ortigas Avenue
– Magsaysay Boulevard / Aurora Boulevard
– Quezon Avenue / Commonwealth Avenue
– A. Bonifacio Avenue
– Rizal Avenue
– Del Pan / Marcos / Mc Arthur Highway
The MMDA recorded 52,872 road accidents in Metro Manila during the first half of the year 2017. Of this number listed from January to June, 214 were described as fatal, 7,670 were non-fatal, and 44,988 resulted in damage to properties.
The agency’s Traffic Discipline Office cited the lack of discipline and disobedience to traffic rules of the drivers and pedestrians as a major factor on road accidents.
The MMDA identified more than 50 main roads as accident-prone areas in Metro Manila.
Based on the 2016 Metro Manila Accident Recording and Analysis System (MMRAS) program report, road accidents occur mostly in the City of Manila along President Sergio Osmena Highway, Radial Road 10 (R-10) and Roxas Boulevard; and on Commonwealth Avenue, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, Quirino Highway, Quezon Avenue and Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City.
Castelo said his bill introduces to Section 6 (Functions of the Metro Manila Council) of RA 7924 the following provision:
“The duly approved and ratified ordinance issued by the Metro Manila Council shall be binding on all component [Local Government Units] of Metro Manila and shall have the full force and effect of a law therein.”
The bill also tasks the MMDA as the lead agency to implement any ordinance, with the assistance of LGUs or other enforcement agencies.
