MANILA, Philippines – Several bus operators filed civil charges against the City of Manila, Mayor Joseph Estrada and Vice Mayor Isko Moreno over the city’s bus ban.

The bus operators filed the petition on Wednesday, September 26, asking a Manila court to review Manila City Council Resolution No. 48, Series of 2013, which prevents city and provincial buses without terminals in Manila from entering the city.

The complainants are the Alabang Transport Service Cooperative, Arabia Boy Express, JNL Paet Transport Company, TAS Transport Corporation, Erjohn & Almark Transit Corporation, Maluto Trans and Travel Corporation, RRCG Transport System Company Inc, and Greenstart Bus Company Inc.

READ: Bus operators question Manila bus ban

They are also asking the Manila Regional Trial Court to stop Estrada, Moreno, and several of the city’s offices from implementing the ban.

Also being sued are the Traffic Management Committee of Manila, Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau, and the Manila Police District and Park & Ride Inc, which owns and operates a terminal in Lawton, Manila.

The case will be heard by Judge Daniel Villanueva of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 49. A hearing is set for October 2 at 8:30 am.

The petitioners want a temporary restraining order and a writ of preliminary injunction on the ban because it allegedly:

1. did not follow due process; 
2. gave powers that did not belong to the city’s officials;
3. violated national laws;
4. and violated the rules of the Department of the Interior and Local Department, the Department of Transportation and Communications, and the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

Bus operators are crying foul over the council resolution which banned buses without terminals late July. The ban has been adjusted several times since it was introduced. Moreno said the resolution has since been passed into an ordinance. 

WATCH: Who benefits from the Manila bus ban?

The bus ban, they said in the petition, has caused “suffering in losses due to their inability to fully utilize their franchises.” They claimed their businesses were in “imminent danger” of being bankrupt.

The city government, however, found that many of these buses were invoking franchises that were not their own. They had been plying the routes by piggybacking on the original franchises of other lines – a violation of LTRFB regulation.

Traffic rules, added revenues

Moreno said the case doesn’t worry him, adding that it will not stop the city from enforcing even more changes in the city’s traffic system. The vice mayor is also the city’s traffic czar.

“Hindi ko papahalagahan ang interes ng bus operator sa interes ng nakararami,” Moreno said. (I will not put interest of the bus operators ahead of the majority.)

Moreno said the city will soon install sheds for the 14,000 or so jeepneys that ply its streets to make sure they stop only at designated areas.

Enforcing new rules and strengthening older ones have also resulted in added income for the city. Moreno said income from traffic violations averaged P900,000 monthly during the time of Mayor Alfredo Lim.

Now it has hit the millions, said Moreno. In August, the city’s income from violations hit the P3 million mark.

It helps that some violators would rather pay fines than comply with the city’s rules, said Moreno. – Rappler.com