The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry is fully supporting the calls of several sectors to grant special powers to incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the transportation crisis.
“We fully support the position of granting special powers to [President) Duterte to solve the traffic problems of Metro Manila,” PCCI chairman Emeritus Francis Chua said Tuesday.
He said Duterte with his political will “can just proceed to exercise his Presidential powersw while waiting for special powers from Congress.”
The chamber has been critical of the port congestion that affected the flow of traffic within the metropolis and caused the slowdown of the movement of exports and imports, especially export-oriented companies inside the economic zones.
It came up with a 12-point set of resolution during the 41st Philippine Business Conference and Expo in October 2015 for adoption by the incoming government. One of the resolution centers on logistics.
The PCCI, whose members include exporters and importers, supported the shift of cargo traffic from Manila to Subic and Batangas ports to prevent another congestion. It also asked both the national government and local government units to coordinate traffic regulations on trucks to avoid congestion.
The Makati Business Club, meanwhile, said the MBC Philippines was near transportation crisis that needed urgent action and solutions.
MBC said if the solutions to address the transport crisis required emergency powers, it was prepared to support well-defined emergency roles for the transport sector, as long as they were specific, limited and timebound. They should also he anchored on a solid national policy and complemented by a strong system of accountability.
“We strongly believe that inclusive, people-oriented mobility and transparency must be the guiding principles that all policies and projects arising from these emergency powers will follow, and that the private sector and civil society should be provided with a substantial role in implementation and monitoring,” MBC said.
It noted the surge in the demand for mobility, as seen by the increasing number of motor vehicles on the road and more domestic and international trips for social, business or tourism purposes.
MBC said it was aware that the transportation infrastructure had been unable to keep up with the rising demand.