Road users’ and consumer’s watchdog on Sunday called on lawmakers to defer the granting of emergency powers to the Transport department until such time that President Rodrigo Duterte finds someone whose character and reputation are beyond reproach to head the department.
Road Users Protection Advocates convenor Ray Junia raised the issue of propriety and competence as the reasons the requested extra powers must be withheld until Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade voluntarily relinquished his post.
“Conflict of interest is one of the core issues here. It is wrong to appoint a businessman who is a major player in the industry supervised by the department where he is assigned, and consequently it is improper for that person to accept the post even if it was offered to him,” Junia explained.
“We want to make it clear that we support the granting of emergency powers to President Duterte but this must be done with the assurance that the people whom he will tap to implement these [powers]are truly competent and would have no other interest but to promote public good and welfare” he added.
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier scored DOTr officials for their lack of clear-cut plans which he claimed caused the delay in the grant of the emergency powers.
“The problem was not with us in the House. We asked DOTr officials what they have done or what are their plans. They told us nothing. We cannot give emergency powers if we do not know where or how these would be used,” Alvarez said.
Senator Grace Poe also bewailed the incompetence of DOTr officials who were at a loss on how they would implement the measure and where they intended to secure the funding of around P8 trillion that would come with the measure.
Junia pointed out that Speaker Alvarez even lambasted Tugade in a recent radio interview for his choices of three subordinates who were reportedly ‘planted’ in the department by big business conglomerates where they used to be connected.
Alvarez said part of the problem lies with some of Tugade’s undersecretaries “who have their own personal interests to protect.”
House transportation committee chairman Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, on the other hand, said DOTr officials appeared “confused on the specific powers they need.”
He noted that Tugade and his men do not realize that they already have the power to effect change in the transportation sector through their mandate and other existing laws.
Sarmiento declared that Tugade and his subordiantes are “confused” on what the traffic crisis is and consequently on what emergency powers they need to solve it.