Manila Rep. Joel Chua on Monday called for the abolition of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA).
In a privilege speech, Chua said a council of mayors of the National Capital Region is enough to effectively discharge the mandate and functions of the MMDA.
“Dismantling the MMDA would align with the current Marcos administration’s national government rights-sizing program,” Chua said.
He said “the MMDA has encroached upon the jurisdiction of local government units and the national government agencies, violated the Local Government Code, duplicated the roles of national agencies, has become a bloated bureaucracy and wasted billions in public funds from projects not implemented.”
He also said the Supreme Court had long settled that MMDA has no legislative power, nor police power.
Chua said metro-wide concerns, issues, and situations can be addressed by a council of NCR mayors, who can have some of their decisions ratified by the legislative councils in NCR to have legislative character and effect.
The lawmaker, who had also served as Manila councilor, said “the MMDA has been disrupting the lives of Manila residents through MMDA operations involving demolition of homes, clearing of roads and sidewalks, and traffic management and enforcement.”
In his speech, Chua also noted how the MMDA bureaucracy has grown from
6,812 in 2011 to 9,767 in 2021 and that its total annual budget of about P10 billion from the General Appropriations Act and local sources is much larger than most budgets of national departments.