Metropolitan Manila Development Authority

A meeting of the Metro Manila Council in June 2016.

The governing board and policy making body of the MMDA is the Metro Manila Council, composed of the mayors of the cities and municipalities.

The heads of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Committee (HUDCC), and Philippine National Police (PNP) or their duty authorized representatives, attend meetings of the council as non-voting members.

The council is the policy-making body of the MMDA.

• It approves metro-wide plans, programs and projects and issues rules, regulations and resolutions deemed necessary by the MMDA.
• It may increase the rate of the allowances and per diems of the members of the council to be effective during the term of the succeeding Council. It fixes the compensation of the officers and personnel of the MMDA, and approves the annual budget thereof for submission to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
• It promulgates rules and regulations and sets policies and standards for metro-wide application governing the delivery of basic services, prescribes and collects service and regulatory fees, and imposes and collects fines and penalties.

The council consists of voting and non-voting members. Voting members are the mayors of the localities in Metro Manila, as well as the Presidents of the Metro Manila Vice Mayors League and the Metro Manila Councilors League. Non-voting members are representatives by the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Tourism, Department of Transportation, Department of Public Works and Highways, Housing Urban and Development Coordinating Council, and the Philippine National Police.[6]

MMDA had TV and radio stations sometimes carrying the same brand, MMDA Teleradyo. They ceased on August 17, 2010.

• MMDA Traffic Radio 1206 - Traffic updates can be heard on this station. It was started as a test broadcast on September 24, 2007.
• MMDA TV - Traffic updates are Live Feed by Monitoring Cameras Along the streets of Metro Manila with simulcast over MMDA Traffic Radio 1206. It was started as a test broadcast on August 20, 2008.

To compensate for the closure of these communication mediums, the MMDA turned to social media such as Twitter to broadcast traffic updates to users following them. Live billboards, particularly at EDSA, have been also constructed. The MMDA app for iOS and Android have also been made available for free, broadcasting traffic updates directly.

Since 2014, the agency took over the mothballed Pasig River ferry system in anticipation of huge traffic along the metropolis, from the Skyway Stage 3 construction. In reviving the defunct transportation, many of the old ferry stations were reactivated and new vessels purchased. Ridership of the waterway service increased over time, with the offering of discounts to students and senior citizens. The MMDA intends to continue operating the ferry service until a private investor takes over.

Coined by Francis Tolentino, Mabuhay Lanes (formerly called Christmas Lanes, as it was launched during Christmas season of 2014) are roads marked as priority alternative routes that must be cleared of obstruction at all times. This was underscored by strict parking restrictions, where parked vehicles along roads designated as such were towed right away.

The MMDA is tasked to clear obstructions from the roads at all times, and conducts daily clearing operations against stalled and illegally parked vehicles, with subcontracted towing companies. Illegally parked vehicles will be given 5 minutes to leave, and will be towed otherwise. Incapacitated vehicles are almost immediately towed to clear traffic.

Primary and secondary roads, unless with designated parking areas, are considered "No-Parking-Zones".

An MMDA public urinal

Starting from Bayani Fernando's term, there has been a large increase in construction of footbridges all over Metro Manila. It has been continued, albeit fewer than before, by succeeding chairmen. It has been hailed due to providing safe passage and crossing for pedestrians in otherwise risky pedestrian lanes.

While already in existence long ago and is not a new concept, it was made popular by Bayani Fernando as a solution to worsening traffic in Metro Manila by closing certain intersections and create U-Turn slots meters away from the former intersection to create continuous traffic, mitigating bottlenecks caused by traffic light signals. This produced mixed results as there were improvements and deterioration in certain areas. During Tolentino's and Carlos' term, some intersections reverted to signalized open intersections only to reimplement U-Turn slots later on.

A short-lived curiosity all around Metro Manila is the pink urinals made popular by Bayani Fernando, which he implemented prominently in Marikina in an effort to curb public urination. They have since been removed, however, with remaining urinal units distributed instead to local government units.

The MMDA operates several pumping stations in strategic areas of Metro Manila, with the aim of mitigating flooding risks, particularly during inclement weather. Old pumping stations that used diesel engines were upgraded in 2015 to use electric motors. Brand new pumping stations were also constructed in flood-prone areas as part of the agency's flood-mitigation program. In addition they also scheduled a regular maintenance of 54 pumping stations across the country with 12 stations being equipped with new pumps.[7]

Starting with Bayani Fernando's tenure, the Estero Blitz (Waterway Blitz) became an annual waterway clearing operation with emphasis on river dredging activities, particularly at flood-prone areas, to reduce the risk and impact of flooding all over the metropolis. The clearing operation is usually conducted during the dry summer season.

The Gwapotel Inn is a cheap hotel run by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.[8] A second Gwapotel was announced in December, 2007.[9]

The Gwapotel along Roxas Boulevard is renamed the MMDA Workers Inn, and operated until 2017. It was closed due to deteriorating structure and will be rehabilitated/transferred at an unspecified date. The Abad Santos Gwapotel has since been converted into their training barracks.

The MMDA are empowered to conduct sidewalk clearing operations in a bid to ease traffic flow and enforcement of sidewalks for people.

The MMDA's sidewalk clearing operations became notorious during Bayani Fernando's tenure for intense clearing activities that became a subject of complaints. These were reduced during the term of Oscar Innocentes and the earlier part of Francis Tolentino's term, but eventually was continued, with the cooperation of the public in submitted reports from SMS, Facebook and Viber.

Aside from the towing team, the SCOG is a prominent group in the MMDA in various operations conducted by a conglomerate of government agencies focused on roadway and vehicle enforcement, the I-ACT.

The Court of Appeals says the MMDA is not among the government agencies deputized to implement RA 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003. The CA added that the MMDA has no police or legislative power to implement the law. It declared invalid MMDA Resolution No. 11-19, which the agency used as basis to implement its anti-smoking campaign.[10]