The House of Representatives will soon start the debate on the proposed emergency powers being sought by President Rodrigo Duterte from Congress to address the worsening traffic condition in the country.
The House committee on transportation, chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, said it had already endorsed for plenary discussion to the panel chairman the measure giving the President, through the Department of Transportation, a special power to administer the land and air traffic in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao City.
It took Sarmiento’s panel about four months to have the draft bill calendared for second and third and final reading approval in plenary session.
At a hearing Tuesday, Sarmiento said his panel will immediately transmit the measure to the House committee on rules to enable it to calendar the measure for plenary action.
The proposed Traffic Management Act that will grant President Duterte’s emergency powers will authorize the secretary of DOTr to implement the projects as ‘de officio traffic chief.”
Under the proposal, the traffic chief will have the authority to consolidate the existing traffic rules and regulations of all local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.
The draft bill also provides that the traffic chief shall have the authority to clear all sidewalks, open the private subdivisions for alternate routes, dismantle the illegal terminals, and among others.
The traffic chief as mandated under the proposed measure shall also have the power to recall the franchise of public utility vehicles, change PUV’s routes, run after reckless drivers and others.
It also empowers the traffic chief to enter into a negotiated contract in line with the main objective of decongesting the major thoroughfares, provided that the DoTR is mandated to make public all the projects to be implemented without public bidding by publishing these in national newspapers.
In a related development, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board admitted before lawmakers that Republic Act 10913 or the Anti-Distracted Driving Act is in fact “silent” on the usage of navigational apps or tools via mobile devices.
AKO-Bicol Party-List Rep. Rodel Batocabe said the intent of the law to prevent distractions while driving should be applied on whether or not drivers should be fined for glancing at Waze on the phone attached to their dashboards.
“It is not a distraction, it is a device that will aid me in driving,” Batocabe told LTFRB chairperson Martin Delgra III at a congressional hearing conducted by the House committee on transportation Tuesday.
Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop, one of the authors of the law, raised the issue of confusion among the public with regards to the supposed implementation of RA 10913.
Acop said that it is the LTFRB’s responsibility to distinguish the provisions to the public in order to avoid confusion.
“The problem is, when you’re interviewed by media, you can’t cite the specific provision. You should make a distinction that this is Joint Administrative Order, and this is the law,” Acop said, referring to JAO 2014-1 of the LFTRB and the LTO where accessories, devices, and equipment which block the field view of the driver are prohibited.