The plan of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to ban driver-only private vehicles along Edsa violates due process requirements, the public policy think-tank Infrawatch PH said on Tuesday.

The statement came on the eve of the MMDA’s weeklong dry run of the proposed high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) traffic scheme.

“Sorry to burst the bubble of the MMDA, but they cannot implement the HOV scheme tomorrow without violating due process requirements. A public hearing is required prior to the issuance of any administrative regulation,” Terry Ridon, convenor of Infrawatch, said in a statement.

“No public hearing has been conducted by the MMDA, yet the public will be accosted for a clearly unconstitutional regulation,” he added.

Ridon, a former chair of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, urges the MMDA to suspend its implementation of the high-occupancy vehicle scheme in Edsa “unless and until it has already conducted public hearings on the matter” as part of its obligation being the implementing agency under the Administrative Code.

Ridon also asked the MMDA to instead focus on the strict implementation its provincial bus ban and on its alleged failure to control flooding in Metro Manila.

“We believe these issues are the more urgent concerns that the MMDA should address instead of subjecting hundreds of thousands of public and private motorists to unreasonable regulations such as the HOV lanes scheme,” he said.

He further urged the MMDA to consult Malacañang first before forcing the proposal on the public.  /muf -By: Darryl John Esguerra