Within an effective medium theory, the transmission spectra of metamaterial defective photonic superlattices composed of subwavelength slab widths are shown, with very good accuracy, to be equivalent to those found in trilayer systems with a metamaterial inclusion. Furthermore, we have derived a general condition which should be satisfied to observe resonance tunneling in these systems. Our analytical results may be useful from the applied point of view as they yield the ability to tailor and tune suitable resonance frequencies in the design and the development of photonic-based filtering and light-trapping compact devices.