THE 36-member Quezon City council supports two measures in Congress to expand the powers and functions of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
District 1 Councilor Peter Anthony “Onyx” Crisologo on Wednesday said Quezon City, and the other 15 cities and one municipality making up the National Capital Region, supports giving the MMDA more teeth to implement uniform policies, guidelines, and programs and projects.
“For example, there is Ordinance No. 550 in Mandaluyong City, allowing only spouses, parents and siblings to be with motorcycle riders. On the other hand, Quezon City has its own, too, regulating child back riders on motor bikes. Both have different features,” he told reporters.
Crisologo, a director of the Metro Manila Councilors League, represented group president and District 2 Caloocan City Councilor Carolyn Cunanan in the recent meeting of a technical working group created by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo.
Castelo, as chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development, wanted to thresh out and study the details of his own House Bill 4642 and Marikina City Rep. Bayani Fernando’s HB 5057.
Under the proposed measures, the Metro Manila Council, MMDA’s policy-making body, would ensure that the policies, guidelines, programs and projects of the 17 localities in the metropolis are consistent with one another and with the Authority.
“We welcome both bills aimed at coming up with a clear-cut role of the MMDA and that of the local government unit,” Crisologo stressed.
The technical working group is dissecting the provisions of HB 4642 to amend Republic Act 7924 that created the MMDA.
The proposals aim to give the agency the power to review development permits with metro-wide transport and traffic impacts, undertake the delivery of basic services in coordination with and authority of the local government, and ensure all 17 LGUs are well-informed of the MMC’s approved ordinances with penal sanctions through publication in a daily newspaper.
HB 5057, on the other hand, aimed to strengthen the MMDA by amending its charter.
Under the proposal, the MMDA may deputize personnel from the Philippine National Police, local traffic bureaus, duly licensed security guards, or any member from a non-government organization to enforce all traffic laws and regulations metro-wide.
The Authority would also promulgate rules and regulations, set policies and standards, and enact ordinances for metro-wide application, per the proposal of Fernando, a former MMDA chairman.
“The beauty of both proposals is that their issues are not confined to traffic concerns alone. Both bills would address many other important issues, such as problems on waste management and disposal and flooding,” Crisologo said.
Meanwhile, in celebration of the Philippine Environment Month this June, the Quezon City government through the QC Environment Protection and Waste Management Department will conduct a simultaneous clean-up activity in all rivers and creeks that traverse the city on June 28 and 30 from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m.
The clean-up aims to make Quezon City’s four major river systems and its 41 tributaries clean and clear of solid waste; provide jobs to at least 120 indigent residents; encourage public concern for the environment; and raise awareness on the benefits that can be gained by protecting the environment.
It would also organize groups that will be responsible in continuously maintaining the cleanliness of the city’s river ways.
In 2015, the EPWMD, through its Riverways Cleaning Operations Group, collected 1,824 cubic meters of solid waste from the four rivers.
A report from the department said there was a gradual decrease of wastes collected in waterways from 2003 to 2016 – from 194 dump trucks collected in ‘03, to just 104 dump trucks last year.
The decrease in waste collection is the result of the implementation of the QC Sagip Batis program in 2003 that aims to mitigate flooding in barangays during the rainy season.