‘Principled ally’

We finally had Sen. Grace Poe last Wednesday at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay after almost one year of trying to invite her to our weekly breakfast forum. It’s also more than a year after she run but lost as “independent” candidate during the May 9 presidential elections. The neophyte Senator has since returned to her duties as a lawmaker to complete the remaining three years of her first six-year term at the Senate.

Staying as “independent,” or not affiliated to any political party, Sen. Poe now belongs to the super majority supporting the legislative agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte. Proof of which, Sen. Poe shepherded several priority bills of the Duterte administration that were ratified by both chambers of the 17th Congress before they adjourned sine die last week.

Describing her new self-proclaimed role as a “principled ally,” she particularly mentioned having supported the administration bills, namely, extending the Philippine passport validity from the present five years to 10 years; the extension of drivers’ license from three years to five years and even up to ten years if no history of traffic violation; and, the universal access to quality education for state colleges and universities (SCUs).

As chairman of the Senate public services committee, Sen. Poe is also the principal sponsor of the proposed “emergency powers” for President Duterte to address the Metro Manila traffic crisis and to fast track long delayed infrastructure projects. The proposed measure was among the bills mentioned by President Duterte during his first state of the nation address (SONA) in July last year.

The Chief Executive asked Congress to grant him “emergency powers” to ease the nightmarish traffic situation so that critical infrastructure projects such as road networks, railways and airports can be implemented with speed.

“But there are things that have been in the pipeline for so long. That’s why I wanted ‘emergency powers.’ People are saying, ‘Why would you want to give the President emergency powers?’ Because there’s also a lot in our laws that delay initial things like these,” Poe stressed.

Incidentally, the Senator came half an hour late in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay breakfast forum after being caught in the heavy traffic from her residence in Quezon City going to Café Adriatico in Remedios Circle in Malate.

As originally pushed by Malacanang Palace, the bill seeks to designate Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade as the chief administrator of the “emergency powers.” Unlike the air, sea and land coverage of the Senate bill on “emergency powers,” Poe noted the House version of the bill was limited to land transportations and merely seeks to unify all the local governments in Metro Manila under one “traffic czar.”

Apparently, Tugade’s personal troubles with lawmakers at the Lower House came into play.

When the 17th Congress ended their first regular sessions last week, Sen. Poe noted with dismay the proposed bill is still in the period of interpellations at the Senate. Although it was initially the pet bill of the administration, she noted the Chief Executive seemed to have lost interest in pushing for the enactment of the proposed “emergency powers” bill.

So she took the opportunity to get the sense of President Duterte about the bill when the super majority at the Senate were invited to a dinner meeting at Malacanang a couple of months ago. “Sir do you really want the ‘emergency powers’? Do you need it?” she quoted herself personally asking this to President Duterte.

 The President’s reply though sounded “very vague” to her. “Like he was saying ‘it doesn't matter to me. But you know you can trust Sec. Tugade.’ Just that,” Poe quoted and recalled the President adding: “You know he (Tugade) is good.”

“But he (President) didn’t talk of the particulars why he needed the emergency powers,” Poe cited.

Unsuccessful to get even his administration allies to support his proposed “emergency powers” bill, President Duterte, however, quickly got approval for his martial law powers. Sen. Poe is among those who voted to support the martial law declared by President Duterte after the Maute siege in Marawi City that flared up last May 22 and still raging on.

President Duterte invoked his powers as Commander-in-chief under our country’s 1987 Constitution to declare martial law all over Mindanao in a bid to stamp out the Maute siege in Marawi City. Sen. Poe, however, reiterated her stand to comply with provision of the Constitution for both the Senate and the House of Representatives to meet in joint session to pass upon the approval of the martial law Proclamation 216 of President Duterte.

“Yes, I'll speak if I have an objection… Pero kapag sa tingin ko naman makabubuti, kasama ako (But if in my view it will help, I am with them) as a principled ally,” Sen. Poe asserted. 

In the meantime that the proposed “emergency powers” bill to address the Metro Manila traffic crisis remains in limbo, Sen. Poe resumed her Senate public hearings on the questionable deals entered into by the former officials who almost run to the ground the trouble-prone operations of the Metro Rail Transit (MRT). To date, she had six public hearings on the MRT since she started this last year before she threw her hat in the presidential race last year.

Sen. Poe eyes to invite to the next MRT hearing former Transportation Sec. Mar Roxas II to shed light on shady deals involving MRT maintenance contracts that were awarded to companies identified with Marlo dela Cruz, a known Liberal Party (LP) supporter of Roxas during the presidential elections last year.

Being a former Senator himself, Sen. Poe counts upon the motu propio initiative of Roxas to voluntarily appear in the next MRT hearing without need of formal invite or official summons from her Senate committee of public services. Like Poe, Roxas lost the presidential race to the former Davao City Mayor.

While actively involved in the legislation of administration bills, she has her own pet bills pending at various stages of the legislative mills. A former teacher, Sen. Poe vows to push for enactment her pet bill to provide free nutritious meals for public school children. Despite being a “principled ally,” she hopes President Duterte would sign her pet bill into law when Congress approves it in their next sessions starting on July 24.