House leans toward emergency powers to solve traffic problem

The House Committee on Transportation approved yesterday “in principle” the proposed emergency powers for President Duterte to help him address the worsening land and air traffic woes, particularly in Metro Manila.

The panel, chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, said it is ready to grant emergency powers to the Chief Executive to resolve the traffic situation that has turned into a national crisis.

“Yes, in principle, we will grant him emergency powers. I am in agreement in granting the President emergency powers, but we will see to it that it will pass the test of constitutionality. ”Pag tinanong, malay mo ‘pag binigay namin, somebody will question it, pagdating ng Supreme Court, sana this is constitutional and it will not be declared unconstitutional,” Sarmiento said in an interview after his committee’s organizational meeting.

He scoffed at the earlier statement made by Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade that the traffic problem in Metro Manila is only a “state of mind.”

He said if the situation is considered as a “state of mind,” President Duterte should have not asked Congress to grant him emergency powers.

Tugade has already clarified through a radio interview late Wednesday that he was quoted out of context in a news report.

In a letter addressed to the newspaper (not the Manila Bulletin) that published Tugade’s remarks, DOTr Assistant Secretary for Communications Cherie Mercado-Santos said, in part: “The prevailing Filipino psyche of using traffic as an excuse must be changed. That kind of state of mind that automatically uses traffic as an excuse, unnecessarily adds to the problem of traffic.” “What the Secretary is asking, is a change of psyche, a platform of cooperation for citizens to be part of the solution, for Filipinos to simply be truthful,” she said.