THE House of Representatives is still having a hard time passing the proposed emergency powers being sought by the Department of Transportation to address the traffic woes.
Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, said the House is still working on its draft of the proposal way behind the draft completed by the Senate panel headed by Senator Grace Poe.
Sarmiento said his committee needs up to the end of the month to come up with a draft bill and debate the measure in February. Congress will resume session on Jan. 16 after a month-long holiday break.
“Jan. 18 will be the first meeting of the committee to discuss the House version ofTraffic Crisis Act,” Sarmiento said in a radio interview.
Sarmiento said he will coordinate with Poe before Congress resumes session to discuss and reconcile conflicting provisions of the measure.
“I will talk to Senator Poe to enable us to have a good discussion during the [bicameral] conference meeting,” Sarmiento said, referring to the version reported by the Senate committee on transportation to the plenary last Dec. 14.
Among the differences in the House and the Senate’s version of the measure is a provision requiring the DOTr to submit a list of priority projects that are supposed to address the traffic problem within 90 days and yet require huge funding.
Sarmiento said the 2017 budget did not factor in allocations for big ticket projects intended to ease the worsening traffic in the country.
“We will find a way to finance them, perhaps by way of supplemental budget. The Congress and the Senate will settle it,” Sarmiento said.