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| Sen. Grace Poe and DOTr Sec. Arthur Tugade photo from Youtube (ctto) |
The Senate Committee on Public
Service chaired by Senator Grace Poe, held a public hearing on Tuesday and
discussed Senate Bill 213, which renews a proposal to grant President Duterte
emergency powers to speed up traffic and infrastructure projects. Sen. Francis Tolentino filed the said bill.
Department of Transportation (DOTr)
Secretary Arthur Tugade also present at the hearing and made an assertion on the urgency of granting emergency powers but failed to convince the senators why it
is needed.
During the hearing, Tugade blamed
the failure of Congress to grant emergency powers for the delay in the
implementation of the DOTr’s programs, in which Sen. Poe did not agree with and
triggered a short argument.
The DOTr secretary said, “Kung nabigyan sana ng emergency powers
noon, dapat ngayon, nirerepaso na natin ‘yong nagawa – kung nagbigay. Pero sabi
nga nila, walang huli sa tamang gawain”
“With the emergency powers, the government can immediately adopt
and implement policies without having the need to amend existing laws and “wait
for the tediously long process of legislation.” Tugade added.
According to Tugade, it will also fast track
procurement and road right-of-way acquisition and relocation processes; and
will allow the DOTr to easily implement its priority projects.
Poe, who also sponsored the
emergency powers bill in the Senate during the previous Congress disagreed to
Tugade’s remarks.
She said the DOTr should be able to do its job even
without the emergency powers with the current laws and executive policies.
But Tugade still insisted on the
need for the grant of emergency powers despite agreeing that the DOTr was able
to work on the rehabilitation of the MRT-3, among others.
However, Senator Grace Poe insisted after President
Duterte’s criticisms against her, that the country needs a master plan on how
to resolve the traffic congestion in Metro Manila, not emergency powers.
Poe earlier rejected the
President’s request for emergency powers to unclogged the traffic mess in the
capital.
“It is not the lack of emergency
powers but the lack of a master plan,” she said during the committee hearing.
She emphasized that the government has an approved
“dream plan” but it remained unclear whether the transportation agencies have
adopted the plan for implementation.
“The cost to
implement the dream plan is less than what we are losing daily due to the
traffic problem,” she said.
Senator Ralph Recto added that the master plan
should be prioritized by the government so we can determine whether or not the
emergency powers grant is necessary.
“Have you presented a plan? Wala pa akong nakikita
dito. In the last three years wala pa akong nakikitang presentation dito sa
Senado.” Recto said.
Source: Poltiko
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