METROPOLITAN MANILA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, petitioner , vs.

BEL-AIR VILLAGE ASSOCIATION, INC., respondent .by Conrad Lacsina

Facts:

1. Petitioner MMDA is a government agency tasked with the delivery of basicservices in Metro Manila, including “transport and traffic management.”Respondent Bel-Air Village Association, Inc. is the registered owner of NeptuneStreet, a private road inside Bel-Air Village.

2. Neptune runs parallel to Kalayaan Avenue, a national road open to the generalpublic.

3. Bel-Air received from MMDA, through its Chairman, a notice requesting it to openNeptune Street to public vehicular traffic “for the safe and convenient movementof persons”. Bel-Air was also apprised that the perimeter wall separating thesubdivision from the adjacent Kalayaan Avenue would be demolished.

4. Bel-Air instituted against MMDA a case for injunction and prayed for the issuanceof a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining the openingof Neptune Street and prohibiting the demolition of the perimeter wall.

5. MMDA claims that it has the authority to open Neptune Street to public trafficbecause it is an agent of the state endowed with police power in the delivery of basic services in Metro Manila so that there is no need for the City of Makati toenact an ordinance opening Neptune Street to the public.

Issue: Whether or not the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has themandate to open Neptune Street to public traffic pursuant to its regulatory and policepowers?

 

Decision: No.

Ratio:

1. Police power is lodged primarily in the National Legislature. It cannot beexercised by any group or body of individuals not possessing legislative power.Our Congress delegated police power to the local government units in the LocalGovernment Code of 1991. But the MMDA is not a local government unit or apublic corporation endowed with legislative power. Even its governing board, theMetro Manila Council has not been delegated any legislative power, unlike thelegislative bodies of local government units.

2. The functions of MMDA are administrative in nature. According to its Charter,R.A. 7924:

"Sec. 2. Creation of the Metropolitan Manila Development  Authority . -- –x x x.

The MMDA shall perform planning, monitoring andcoordinative functions, and in the processexercise regulatory and supervisory authority over thedelivery of metro-wide services within Metro Manila, withoutdiminution of the autonomy of the local government unitsconcerning purely local matters."

3. Petitioner cannot seek refuge in the cases of Sangalang v. Intermediate Appellate Court where the Court upheld certain ordinances as a legitimateexercise of police power because both Makati and the then Metro ManilaCommission which issued the said ordinances had the power to enact them.The MMC under P. D. No. 824 is not the same entity as the MMDA under R. A.No. 7924. Unlike the MMC, the MMDA has no power to enact ordinances for thewelfare of the community.