Turning cold

There seems to be a change of heart by government officials who are supposed to be clothed by the 17th Congress with special powers to cut through red tape in fast-tracking projects aimed at alleviating traffic, especially in Metro Manila. One of the first priority legislative bills when President Rodrigo Duterte first took office last year was to ask the 17th Congress to grant him emergency powers to address the traffic mess he inherited from administrations past.

Citing the traffic congestion problems in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized areas of the country are of crisis-proportion, President Duterte called out his allies from the PDP-Laban in control of both chambers of the 17th Congress to immediately pass into law the administration bill on the proposed grant of emergency powers as prescribed by the 1987 Constitution. With his hands tied by the requirements of bureaucracy and by the existing laws of the land, President Duterte sought the grant of emergency powers to, among other things, allow negotiated biddings in infrastructure and other traffic-easing projects, etc.

In seeking such emergency powers, the Chief Executive designated Department of Transportations (DOTr) Secretary Arturo Tugade as his “traffic czar” to implement these projects designed to improve mobility of people and goods with construction of new airports, more bridges, additional road networks, trains and railroads, among them.

But the proposed emergency crisis act itself got stuck in the legislative mills at the 17th Congress which ended its first regular sessions last May with the bill still at the stage of public hearings in both the Senate and at the Lower House. The lawmakers apparently have other priorities in their legislative agenda. Senate president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and the House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, both PDP-Laban stalwarts, could not move their respective chambers into going fast in approving the bill.

The bill is still being deliberated at the House committee on transportations chaired by Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento and at the Senate committee on public services headed by Sen. Grace Poe.

Since he assumed office, President Duterte has made no bones about his extreme dislike over procurement laws that require the “lowest bid” by contractors to win government supply and services contracts and projects. The former Davao City Mayor has always deplored this “lowest bid” requirement as the main source of corruption in government.

The President reiterated this during his extemporaneous speech yesterday at the Anti-Corruption Summit organized by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. “The traffic problem is not mine. It’s been there for the last 20 years,” he pointed out.

Lately, however, the lawmakers have changed tunes.

Ironically, the lawmakers are now the ones asking the President to certify as “urgent” the proposed power emergency crisis bill. With less than three weeks left before the 17th Congress adjourns for their Christmas recess, Poe renewed her appeal yesterday to President Duterte to certify as urgent the pending emergency powers bill as the transportation crisis in the country continues to worsen. The “fastest way” to advance the measure is a Malacañang certification, she stressed.

A certification of urgency will allow Congress to pass the measure on second and third reading within the same day.

Sen. Poe has been shepherding Senate Bill 1284, or the proposed Traffic and Congestion Crisis Act since President Duterte identified it as among his administration’s legislative priorities during his first state of the nation address (SONA) in July last year. She sponsored it for approval on second reading last year. Currently, the bill is going through interpellations at the Senate floor.

Under her amended bill, it seeks, among other things, to reduce obstacles to the implementation of transportation projects, such as barring lower courts from issuing temporary restraining orders (TROs), right-of-way questions, among major bottlenecks.

The committee recently met with the respective officials of the DOTr, Public Works and Highways; and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to request them to submit their concrete traffic crisis plans to the plenary once the tax reform and budget bill deliberations are finished. The respective officials of the three agencies promised to submit a comprehensive report on priority projects that will be implemented during the duration of the proposed emergency powers before the session break on Dec. 16. Congress will resume sessions on Jan. 14, 2018.

Poe explained yesterday the bill got sidelined because of the urgency of approving the proposed P3.767 trillion national budget for 2018 and the tax reform for acceleration and inclusion (TRAIN) bill, which partially bankrolls the P8-trillion “Build, Build” Build” program of the Duterte administration. Certified urgent, the Senate approved yesterday on third and final reading the TRAIN bill.

As nominal head of the ruling party in control of the 17th Congress, Poe suggested the President could also issue marching orders to his “super majority” allies at the House to pass the measure pronto. Although part of the so-called “super majority” at the Senate, Sen. Poe remains as “independent,” or with no party affiliation.

When I bumped into Tugade at the ASEAN gala dinner last Nov. 12, the DOTr secretary sneezed at the possibility of the emergency powers bill getting approved sooner. But later perhaps, he said. Tugade confessed fearing the approval into law of the emergency powers bill might even cost more to the government. “The cost of right-of-way gets higher and higher,” Tugade quipped.

Thus, Tugade is turning cold on even getting the 17th Congress to pass the proposed emergency powers. For sure, his cold feet have nothing to do with the cooler temperature that comes around with the Christmas season along with traffic jams.