THE bill seeking to grant special powers to the Duterte administration to address the worsening traffic problem has hurdled the committee level at the House of Representatives.
The House committee on transportation on Wednesday approved House Bill 4334, the “Traffic Crisis Act of 2016” that was authored by committee chairman Cesar Sarmiento, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.
“This traffic crisis act is not forever. We’re just addressing the traffic crisis for a limited period of time,” Sarmiento said during the committee’s 12th hearing on the emergency powers.
“If you look at the whole traffic crisis act, this is not an emergency power,” Sarmiento said. This is a law that contains strategy and reforms that we identified in the course of the 16th Congress and even now in the hearings of the traffic crisis act.”
Sarmiento said many ideas from the House bill had been adopted in the Senate version, thus making the harmonization of the two versions easier.
HB 4334 identifies and limits the scope of the bill to the land traffic crisis in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao City.
Under the bill, the secretary of the Transport department is designated as the ex-officio Traffic Chief and shall have the power of supervision and control over the Metro Manila Development Authority, Cebu Coordinating Council, Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, the Road Board, and the Metropolitan Davao Traffic Administrator.
The Traffic Chief will also be allowed to implement similar mechanisms and systems provided in the bill to other cities and municipalities around the country that are suffering from traffic gridlock.
“This bill is intended to address or mitigate [the traffic problem] but it’s not a magic wand that will solve everything if approved,” Sarmiento said.
“Since there are a lot of varying traffic ordinances coming from LGUs [local government units], this bill will give the traffic chief the power to harmonize all these.”