Senator Grace Poe. FILE PHOTO
SENATORS will ask for a clear road map to address the traffic crisis when they sit down with transportation officials of the Duterte administration today (Wednesday) in a public hearing on the proposal to give the President emergency powers to solve the pestering problem.
Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, said the administration must first lay down a clear plan on how it intends to deal with the traffic mess before Congress grants its request for extraordinary authority.
鈥淚t will be a presentation of what the problems of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) are. What are their plans?鈥� Poe told the Inquirer.
鈥淲e will not just give emergency powers if they do not present a road map. We will also meet with LGUs (local government units), students and cyclists next week,鈥� said Poe.
Poe said today鈥檚 first hearing would be just a preliminary meeting with the hearing proper to start next week.
Among those confirmed to attend were Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, his undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries; officials from DOTr鈥檚 attached agencies the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, the Land Transportation Office, and the Manila International Airport Authority; officials from the MMDA, and representatives from the House Committee on Transportation.
Emergency powers
Expected to be tackled are the duration of the grant of powers which, per the proposed bills, may last two to three years, with a provision that it could be 鈥渨ithdrawn by a resolution of Congress.鈥�
The committee is also expected to highlight the need for oversight from both houses of Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto echoed Poe鈥檚 call, saying Malaca帽ang should first present its 鈥渃lear-cut鈥� plans on how to address the traffic crisis.
He said this would be crucial in setting the parameters of the emergency powers, as it would lay down 鈥渢he problems to be solved, the specific solutions, the cost of each, and the timetable for their completion.鈥�
鈥淒etails will play a major role in defining the scope of the emergency powers,鈥� he said in a statement.
He expects transportation officials attending today鈥檚 hearing to also present 鈥渄oable solutions鈥� that don鈥檛 require special powers to solve, just the aggressive application of laws,鈥� such as the strict enforcement of traffic rules.
鈥淢any simply entail common sense and political will,鈥� Recto said. 鈥淭raffic rules must be implemented without fear or favor. Road obstructions must be cleared. Widened roads should not end up as parking spaces,鈥� he said.
Recto noted that there was already consensus among lawmakers that the President needed emergency powers to end the 鈥渃rippling traffic鈥� in the country鈥檚 urban centers, including Metro Manila and Cebu.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon and Sen. Joseph Victor 鈥淛V鈥� Ejercito have filed separate bills seeking to grant President Duterte emergency powers for two years to expedite transportation and infrastructure projects geared at easing traffic.