Some lawmakers frowned on the proposed emergency powers being sought by the Department of Transportation for President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the country’s traffic woes, saying there is no legal justification for it.
During the House committee on transportation hearing on President Duterte’s proposed emergency powers through the Transportation department, Rep. Harry Roque Jr. of Kabayan party-list and a member of the House minority bloc, said there is no need for Congress to grant emergency powers to Duterte as the provisions embodied in the draft proposal submitted by the DOTr to lawmakers are already covered in the Constitution.
“If the term ‘emergency’ as stated in the Constitution were to be defined in its common meaning, an emergency should be sudden, unforeseen, and dangerous,” Roque said.
Roque said the present traffic situation could not be considered as “unforeseen and sudden” since the problem has been plaguing the busy streets in Metro Manila, including Edsa.
Responding to Roque, DOTr Undersecretary Raoul Creencia said “we consider this a problem. We consider this a crisis.”
Creencia pointed out that the current traffic woes plaguing not only the busy streets of Metro Manila but also in major seaports and airports have the “magnitude of a national emergency.”
“Given the effect of congestion not only on land but also air congestion and given the [Japan International Cooperation Agency] computation of economic losses we incur every day, it is our position that these be considered, as in most versions of the bills we’ve seen, as a national emergency,” Creencia stressed.
Roque raised suspicion that the special powers being sought by the DOTr for President Duterte are a “blanket authority to completely disregard the laws.”
“The DOTr’s request for emergency powers is not something we can take lightly… Emergency powers should be granted only under very pressing circumstances,” Roque, a lawyer, pointed out.
He also said that traffic crisis can be effectively addressed through political will to implement the laws and resolve to stamp corruption in the agencies tasked to enforce traffic laws and rules.”
Surigao Rep. Prospero Pichay also shared Roque’s view that the proposed provisions of emergency powers are already provided for in the present laws.
“All the president has to do is to declare there’s crisis in transportation. With that, you can do everything,” Pichay said.
Earlier in the hearing, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade appealed to lawmakers to approve the emergency powers they sought for the President.
“Promise ho para sa kabutihan ito ng nakararami. Promise ho walang abuso. Promise ho FOI [Freedom of Information] compliant kami,” Tugade told the transportation committee panel chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento.
Traffic has made life miserable for most Filipinos, Tugade said. Much time and resources are wasted in the street instead of family and livelihood, Tugade said.
Also in the hearing, Tugade said government will take over the printing of driver’s license to address the 1.1 million backlog and local production of car plates with a shortage of 6.6 million instead of importing these abroad.
DoTr and Presidential Communications Operations Office headed by Secretary Martin Andanar will soon forge a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to produce driver’s license using the government-owned National Printing Office (NPO), Tugade told the panel chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento.
The DOTr chief also maintained that the agency will implement starting this October the five year validity period for driver’s license from current three years.
Tugade also said that the government will assume the manufacturing of car plates to fill the shortage of 6.6 million by importing machines for its production.
Tugade said the government may tap local producers through a “transparent bidding process” while the system is being put to place.
“But since it will take time and if there is a local manufacturer using the needed equipment located in the Philippines, we can [tap temporarily] and so be it. We will follow the rules of bidding and procurement,” Tugade said.
