Call revived for Duterte emergency powers vs Metro Manila traffic

MANILA, Philippines — As new reports of the huge economic cost of Metro Manila’s traffic congestion emerge, senators are renewing their push for the immediate passage of a bill granting emergency powers to President Duterte to help him decisively address the crisis.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services and sponsor of the emergency powers bill, yesterday reiterated the government should develop a reliable and convenient mass transit system, build alternative roads and bridges, pursue innovative technological traffic management solutions and develop economic centers outside of Metro Manila to decongest it.

But these cannot be done without emergency powers as such massive projects can only be carried out effectively through coordination between the national and local government units, she said.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said in a report that Metro Manila’s traffic crisis is costing the country P3.5 billion daily in missed economic opportunities. In its 2014 report, the figure was at P2.4 billion.

“There is a need to grant extraordinary powers, because current laws do not adequately provide for the means to expeditiously and effectively solve this traffic and congestion crisis. Some laws even create roadblocks to acting promptly,” Poe said.

She said Senate Bill 1284 or the proposed Traffic and Congestion Crisis Act should have been passed last year but it remains stuck in plenary due to “extended debates.”

The President initially asked for emergency powers, but later changed his mind. This sent mixed signals to members of the House and the Senate, the senator said.

She said Congress witnessed Duterte’s influence in other bills such as the unpopular Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

“We are in a war against traffic; but if the people who will receive such emergency powers will categorically say that the powers are an ammunition they no longer need, then the onus of solving it falls solely and squarely on them,” Poe said.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, vice chair of the panel and author of the bill, recalled warning Malacañang last year about the need to pass the measure before the traffic crisis worsens.

“With 30,000 new vehicles every month, things are going to get worse,” Ejercito said.

“I may sound like a broken record, but I’ve been saying again and again that we need to fast-track the railway system and other massive infrastructure projects,” he pointed out.

Ejercito said the worsening traffic crisis is also causing other problems like environmental pollution and more incidents of deadly vehicular accidents.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian also pushed for the expansion of the mass transportation system.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III is pushing for a total parking ban on all streets in Metro Manila.

“City streets have been converted to parking lots by cars, tricycles and other structures. All it takes is political will,” Sotto said.

No silver bullet

For Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, there is no magic bullet that will solve Metro Manila’s “carmageddon.”

“It is a cocktail of solutions: from big government projects to small acts of courtesy on the road; from changing laws that will result in faster construction, to a change in behavior that will result in discipline; from dispersing economic activity to the regions to consistent enforcement of traffic rules in the city,” Recto said.

He said it is time for Duterte to convert one of Malacañang’s halls into an infrastructure “war room” where he and his men can monitor in real time the progress of big-ticket items in the multitrillion-peso public construction portfolio.

“The transportation crisis has reached a point where solving it has to be monitored daily by the nation’s builder-in-chief,” Recto said.

He suggested that work on big infrastructure projects – like Marawi City’s rehabilitation, the various railway projects – be live-streamed, so that any hour of the day the President can view them from this room or on his cellphone.

“If he wants to fully harness information and communications technology (ICT), he can even order that live feeds from other important facilities, like the NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) be streamed into that war room, so he will know if his order for shorter queues has been complied with,” he said.

“This is a benevolent-big-brother-is-watching management and diagnostic tool. You can’t be lazy because ‘Tay Digong’ is watching,” Recto said.

For Rep. Lito Atienza of Buhay party-list, giving the DOTr and other agencies emergency powers – as also proposed in a House bill – will not do the trick.

“Emergency powers that would suspend laws on bidding and procurement might only open the floodgates to more corruption,” he said.

“That is not the solution. That would only aggravate the situation since it does not address the real cause of traffic gridlocks in Metro Manila and other urban areas, which is corruption,” he said.

He added that corruption causes traffic officials and enforcers to look the other way and tolerate violations.

Road discipline and strict enforcement of traffic laws would do much in easing traffic congestion as the government is still setting in place long-term solutions like new roads and mass transit system, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officer-in-charge general manager Jose Arturo Garcia said.

In a press briefing, Garcia said motorists, public utility drivers and commuters should cooperate with the government in efforts to end Metro Manila’s traffic crisis.

“People need to know that we are serious,” Garcia said.

He explained that usual causes of traffic in Metro Manila are engineering problems like the size of the roads, motorists’ lack of discipline, obstruction along roads including illegally parked vehicles.

With traffic hardly moving, fuel is wasted, work schedules disrupted and delivery of goods and services delayed.  –  With Jess Diaz, Ghio Ong