IS IT TIME TO REVIEW THE ROLE OF THE METRO MANILA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY?

 IS IT TIME TO REVIEW THE ROLE OF THE METRO MANILA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY?

Many experts, urban planners, and even lawmakers now agree on one thing: it is not just time to review the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) charter, the review is long overdue.

Perhaps the problem already starts with the name. The MMDA is called a development authority, yet in practice it behaves more like a regulatory and law-enforcement agency. Traffic enforcer, flood responder, road disciplinarian—yes. Metro-wide development planner? That part seems to have been quietly pushed to the background.

In theory, the MMDA doubles as the Regional Development Council (RDC) for the National Capital Region. But unlike all other RDCs in the country, NCR is structurally odd. Elsewhere, RDC members are governors, with private sector representatives, and the chairmanship follows a clear balance between government and business. 

In NCR, however, the “RDC” is effectively composed of mayors, not governors, because there are none. And instead of an elected local official or a private sector representative, the MMDA Chairman is always a full-time cabinet-rank appointee of the President.

This creates an awkward situation. A cabinet official technically outranks all 17 mayors, yet those same mayors, sitting as the Metro Manila Council (MMC), are supposed to be the governing and policy-making body of the MMDA. To make matters more confusing, the MMC elects its own Chairman from among the mayors. So we end up with two chairmen at the top of one organization—one appointed, one elected—with one clearly outranking the other.

If the MMC is truly the policy-making body, then the MMDA General Manager should simply be the executor of policy. Clean and simple. But that is not what happens in reality. Over the years, MMDA General Managers have issued policies of their own, sometimes disregarding or sidelining MMC positions. This gives the impression that there are two parallel—and sometimes competing—sources of policy inside one agency.

Add to that the Supreme Court’s repeated clarification that the MMDA does not possess inherent police power. It is technically a coordinating body. This results in what I call “power without power”: the MMDA is blamed for traffic chaos and flooding, yet it cannot fully act unless the mayors agree. Motorists, meanwhile, suffer from inconsistent rules that magically change when one crosses a city boundary.

Operational inefficiencies only deepen the problem. Flood control is a classic example. One agency builds pumping stations, another operates them, and when Metro Manila floods—as it often does—finger-pointing begins. In traffic management, national transport policy and MMDA enforcement sometimes clash, producing confusion instead of solutions.

Then there is the elephant in the room: Metro Manila is no longer just Metro Manila. The daily reality of “Mega Manila” or the “Greater Manila Area” now includes Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Rizal. Millions cross these borders every day for work. Yet the MMDA’s mandate remains trapped within the old 17-LGU framework. How do you manage traffic, flooding, or waste when the problem clearly extends beyond your jurisdiction?

Finally, there is the issue of accountability. The MMDA Chairman is appointed, not elected. Metro Manila residents cannot vote this official out, yet they live with the consequences of MMDA decisions every single day. Should the MMDA be given real legislative teeth to match its responsibilities? Or should it be restructured, perhaps absorbed more formally into a cabinet-level development and planning framework?

One thing is clear: the MMDA has become so consumed by daily crises—traffic, floods, enforcement—that it has largely forgotten its development role. Reviewing its charter is not an attack on the agency. It is an opportunity to finally decide what the MMDA is supposed to be: a traffic enforcer, a coordinator, a regional government, or a true metropolitan development authority.

Until we answer that honestly, confusion will remain the MMDA’s most consistent output.

RAMON IKE V. SENERES

www.facebook.com/ike.seneres iseneres@yahoo.com senseneres.blogspot.com 09088877282/03-16-2027

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