LAWMAKERS have expressed stiff opposition to “special powers” for Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade who will also be designated as “traffic crisis manager” under an emergency powers package aimed at addressing the worsening traffic situation in the country.
Rep. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela and Harry Roque of Kabayan party-list said Tugade should not be given blanket authority to shake up agencies under the Department of Transportation and other concerned agencies.
Roque said there is no need for Congress to enact a law to give additional powers to Tugade, including the authority to reorganize agencies under him, since President Rodrigo Duterte can already do this.
“No such law necessary. The President can already reorganize agencies through an [executive order],” Roque said.
In the proposed “Traffic and Congestion Crisis Act of 2016” submitted by Tugade to the House committee on transportation, a provision mandates the designation of the DOTr Secretary as the “traffic crisis manager.”
For the duration of the emergency powers, “all powers, authority and functions over land traffic management of Metro Manila Development Authority, Local Government Units, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, Philippine National Police, Toll Regulatory Board, Philippine Ports Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, Civil Aeronautics Board, Manila International Airport Authority, and other agencies and instrumentalities . . . shall be vested in the Traffic Crisis Manager.”
Pertinent provision of the DOTr draft bill also grants the DOTr secretary, as traffic crisis manager, additional powers to “modify, amend, or expand the functions of the concerned agencies . . .”
As far as Albano, a House Majority Leader for the Commission on Appointments, said “only the President can reorganize the agencies under the DOTr.”
Roque insisted that the traffic crisis can be effectively addressed if Tugade has the political will to implement existing traffic rules and regulations.
Party-list lawmakers Alfredo Garbin Jr. of Ako-Bicol and Lito Atienza of Buhay also expressed opposition to Tugade’s request to be designated as traffic management czar for the next two years.
“What we need in Congress is the detailed list of projects that the government would implement to address the traffic crisis. The Executive branch is in a hurry to pass the emergency powers bill, but based on our hearings, we have learned that the Department of Transportation and the Metro Manila Development Authority have yet to come up with concrete projects under the emergency power bill,” Garbin said.
Atienza, a senior Deputy Minority Leader, said Tugade must first exhaust all available legal means to address the traffic problem before seeking additional blanket powers.
“There are many factors contributing to the traffic problem that can be addressed without resorting to emergency powers,” Atienza said.
“There are so many roads in Metro Manila which are not being utilized as alternate routes to ease traffic congestion simply because they are being used as illegal parking spaces or as terminals of public utility vehicles such as the bus terminals at Buendia and Taft Ave. while many others are littered with obstructions like construction materials from diggings of utility companies that are left unattended and unfinished. The DOTr should clear main roads and alternative routes of obstructions like basketball courts, barangay halls, and other illegal structures,” Atienza added.
Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting stressed that while he supports the emergency powers for the DOTr, the parameters must be concrete and transparent.
“In this case, with great power comes great responsibility. And whoever shall be given these powers needs to be very qualified. Imagine how much worse the traffic problem will be if no solution or the wrong solution is implemented using these powers,” Tambunting said
Earlier, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a key ally of Duterte, warned that the emergency powers might be abused to serve the vested interests of the former “principals” of Tugade and his team who also have stakes on transportation projects of the state.
Alvarez’s co-author, House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, stressed that it was difficult to grant blanket powers to the DOTr since the current crop of officials are “conflicted.”
Suarez, in particular, cited the role of Tugade and Undersecretary Noel Kintanar in the Metro Rail Transit-Light Railway Transit Common Station project since both were former executives of the contractors involved in the project.
“I have to be very straightforward with my concern. This concerns the Ayalas. Two of the executives – Secretary Tugade and Usec Kintanar – are from Ayala firms or have done business with the Ayalas. They might favor the Ayalas’ business interests. That’s not right,” Suarez said.
Alvarez also expressed similar concerns over Kintanar, who previously served as assistant vice president of Ayala Corp.; Undersecretary for Air Operations Bobby Lim, who was formerly country manager of the International Air Transport Association; and Undersecretary for Land Transport Anneli Lontoc.
Undersecretary Felipe Judan, for his part, has a shipping business with Ramon Ang’s Petron as customer in his petroleum business while Tugade has his own forwarding business.
“Let us not fool ourselves. In every administration, private corporations put their people in departments covering their business. Whose interests are you serving?” Alvarez asked Tugade and his officials during a recent House hearing.