Grace Poe on emergency powers for Duterte: Convince me

Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday said she was not against giving President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

She, however, said that she was still not convinced that Duterte needed any.

“Hindi naman leaning towards one or over the other. I'm just saying that sana patunayan muna ng DOTr na sa kapangyarihan na meron sila ngayon ay nagagawa ang dapat nilang gawin pero bakit hindi nila ginagawa,” Poe told reporters.

Poe, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, said Congress' failure to grant Duterte emergency powers was being blamed for the executive's lack of success in easing traffic in the National Capital Region.

“Ang nakikita ko ngayon, kahit sila mismo alam nila sa kanilang konsensya na pwede silang kumilos na wala ‘yun," Poe said.

"Ang sa tingin ko, at hindi na ako magpapatumpik tumpik pa, ay ginagamit nila itong rason kung bakit hindi nila nasosolusyunan ang trapik,” she added.

“Sana naman ‘yung mga bumubulong sa Pangulo sabihin din ang totoo na marami ring hindi nagawa na pwede na sanang nagawa ngayon,” Poe said.

Poe said she had yet to be convinced that Duterte needed emergency powers.

“Hindi ako kontra.  D’un ako sa kung ano ang makapagbibigay ng solusyon at sana nagawa nilang kumbinsihin tayo na yun lang ang paraan, emergency powers," Poe said.

"Pero kayo ba sa tingin n’yo nakumbinsi kayo?” she added.

During the hearing, Poe said DOTr had authority to procure trains, acquire the road right of way, and others under the existing laws and even without an emergency power.

She added other projects submitted by the DOTR earlier has nothing to do with addressing the traffic problem.

“Noon kasi ganyan kakapal ang binigay nila pati pagpapatayo ng bakod sa Subic kailangan ng emergency powers sa procurement. Pati facial recognition system sa mga opisina nila, yun ba ay may kaugnayan sa traffic?” Poe said.

Poe said she would convene a technical working group in which DOTr would explain if the projects listed could not really be done without emergency powers.

“Hopefully we will have our TWG every week so starting next week umpisa na. May TWG based on their specified projects na talagang makakatulong ang emergency powers. So kung mapapatunayan sa pag-uusap na ‘yun na kung walang emergency powers, hindi gagalaw ito, talagang una pa kami,” Poe said.

In the last Congress, the public services committee, also headed by Poe, submitted to the plenary the bill seeking emergency powers to the President but it was not discussed.

In the 18th Congress, Senator Francis Tolentino filed a bill seeking to grant emergency powers for two years to President Rodrigo Duterte to address traffic problems in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, and other highly urbanized cities. —NB, GMA News