SC allows NLEX, SLEX, Skyway to impose toll hike

The Supreme Court has allowed three toll roads to impose an increase in their toll rates, the court's spokesperson said on Thursday. Voting unanimously, the high court allowed the North Luzon Expressway, South Luzon Expressway, and Skyway to hike their fees. "In view of the foregoing dispositions in the petitions at bar, the temporary issued by the court on august 13, 2010 is hereby ordered lifted," said the 75-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. The lifting of the TRO, however, does not include the planned toll hikes for Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.
The court also upheld the constitutionality of, among others, the Supplemental Toll Operation Agreement (STOA) covering the SLEX and the Toll Regulatory Board resolutions that allowed the toll hike that should have been enforced on June 30 this year. Last August, the court issued two TRO’s to stop the imposition of higher tollway rates and the 12-percent value added tax (VAT) on toll fees. SC spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez on Friday said the TRO on the VAT imposition remains in effect. —Sophia M. Dedace/JV, GMANews.TV