MANILA, Philippines – Senator Grace Poe urged President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent the proposed legislation to give him emergency powers to solve the traffic crisis in Metro Manila and other urban areas. 

In a statement dated Sunday, November 26, Poe pointed out that there are only 3 weeks or 9 session days left before Congress adjourns for the Christmas break.

She said the “fastest way” to push the measure forward is a certification from Malacañang, so that both the Senate and the House of Representatives may prioritize its passage into law.

Poe, head of the Senate committee on public services, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1284, which seeks to grant emergency powers to the President to address the transportation crisis in major metropolitan areas.

The measure will also relax policies to hasten the implementation of government projects meant to ease traffic.

Poe said it would help “if the President would certify it as urgent, more for its hoped effect of easing traffic in the metropolis, and that the same would be taken as an imprimatur to prompt not only for the Senate leadership to include emergency powers in its priority agenda but also for the House to prioritize the same.”

Duterte’s idea

The President’s certification, she added, would ensure that it “will be tabled by lawmakers for consideration and guarantee a smoother flow in the legislative mill.”

Currently, the Senate is also tackling the proposed 2018 national budget and the comprehensive tax reform package. Poe added she has asked the Senate leadership to consider and fast-track the emergency powers bill before Congress takes a break next month.

Senate Bill 1284 has yet to vote on the bill on second reading.

Poe mentioned that it was President Duterte himself who pitched the idea to Congress for the emergency powers versus traffic during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2016. There, Duterte said, “If you give it, fine. If you don’t, we take the longer route, slowly.”

Poe then pointed out that the topic was not mentioned again during his 2nd SONA.

Officials of the Department of Transportation, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have promised the Senate public services committee that they will submit before the session break a comprehensive report on priority projects during the implementation of the emergency powers.

Poe’s appeal to Duterte comes as the President’s supporters call for a revolutionary government to “hasten change” in government. 

Duterte himself has complained that government processes can get in the way of change.

Certifying a bill as urgent is one of the means at Duterte’s disposal. – Rappler.com