THE House committee on transportation bared on Saturday the findings of the proposed emergency powers after 10 hearings on the proposed Traffic Crisis Bill which seeks to grant emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to address the traffic crisis in the country.
The committee, chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar V. Sarmiento, concluded the traffic crisis is concentrated in metropolitan areas only, particularly in Metro Manila and nearby Metro Cebu and Davao City, and the crisis is limited to land transportation.
Other committee findings were the need to harmonize various traffic laws and traffic regulatory powers, inter-agency cooperation, driver competence and vehicle roadworthiness and that immediate solutions may be implemented even without a Traffic Crisis Act or any emergency powers.
These findings are the reasons why the committee wanted foremost to limit the scope of the bill to the particular areas mentioned and to cover only land transportation.
Sarmiento said in crafting the substitute bill, they will also support the mechanisms for those who will be displaced in the form of existing programs of various government agencies, among them the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration, Development Bank of the Philippines, Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education.
Sarmiento further said that a single traffic authority and unified traffic system are also needed and must be supported by all concerned agencies and local government units working in unison.
Meanwhile, all solutions which could be implemented right away, through sheer political will, should be executed at once.
He also led the House panel in seeking opinions from concerned government agencies to identify the problems related to funding and procurement, the different local traffic regulations affecting the overall traffic condition in metropolitan areas, and the immediate plans they can effect prior to the substitute bill’s approval into law.
Lawyer Maria Paula Domingo of the Department of Budget and Management Legal Service said that in reference to the Supreme Court rulings on the Belgica case or the Priority Development Assistance Fund, Malampaya Fund and the Presidential Social Fund, the funding provision for the proposed emergency powers should contain a determinable amount of what is needed, its specific public purpose, and specific fund sources.
The DBM Government Procurement Policy Board-Technical Support Service (GPPB-TSS-DBM) likewise conveyed support for the bill but reminded that, as previously intended by Congress, there should be one legal framework on government procurement, with the existing emergency procurement coverage under the law to be revisited and further studied.