Senate probe on traffic crisis resumes tomorrow

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate inquiry into the move to ban provincial buses along EDSA as well as other proposals to ease the traffic crisis in Metro Manila will resume tomorrow.

Conducting the hearing is the Senate committee on public services chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, who lamented the lack of a traffic master plan coming from the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).

“The traffic in the country is a situation that requires all hands on deck. We need all the help we can get,” Poe said.

“We’re all very, very eager to find solutions to these problems, which need the right plan and direction,” she added.

The senator lamented that every day, commuters and motorists suffer on the streets.

“We spend our lives on the road, not with our families,” she said.

Poe reminded the MMDA and the DOTr of the committee’s request from the Aug. 13 hearing to submit a transport master plan for short-, medium- and long-term program that the agencies intend to implement to ease the gridlock.

Poe had said the committee would review the traffic management powers of the MMDA to see if they have the authority to implement policies, such as the bus ban.

She added that Congress will also consider giving it expanded powers to improve the mega-Manila areas.

Among those expected to attend the hearing are Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, MMDA chairman Danilo Lim and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Martin Delgra III.

Leaders of various transport groups and private operators will also be present.