A GROUP of legislators will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision denying jurisdiction over the provincial bus ban along the main thoroughfare EDSA in Metro Manila. “With all due respect, and without prejudice to the filing of our Motion for Reconsideration, the SC should have taken jurisdiction over the petition on the provincial bus ban as in other cases they decided wherein direct resort to SC is allowed when there are genuine issues of constitutionality that must be addressed at the most immediate time,” AKO Bicol Party-list Rep. Alfredo A. Garbin Jr., one of the petitioners, told reporters Sunday via Viber message. In a resolution released Friday, the country’s highest court said the petition should be referred to the lower courts first. Last August, a Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued an injunction to stop the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) from implementing the ban based on a petition filed by provincial bus operators. Mr. Garbin defended that their petition “raises a genuine issue of constitutionality” over the MMDA issuance in March 2019 of Regulation No. 19-002, which prohibits provincial buses from picking-up or dropping-off passengers along EDSA as a measure to ease the congestion along the highway. The policy also orders local government units to stop issuing business permits to all public utility bus terminals along EDSA. The petition also argued that the MMDA “exceeded its powers” when it issued the ban “because it does not possess legislative nor police powers.” It also pointed out that city buses and private vehicles, not provincial buses, are the main causes of congestion. Other legislators who filed the petition were AKO Bicol Party-list Rep. Ronald S. Ang, Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente S. Salceda, Bayan Muna Chair Neri J. Colmenares, and Makabayan bloc legislators. — Genshen L. Espedido

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