Tugade to push for emergency powers anew to solve EDSA gridlock

In light of President Rodrigo Duterte's admission that he failed to solve the traffic problem on EDSA, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade on Wednesday said he will push for the granting the emergency powers to the President in the next Congress.

Tugade affirmed Duterte's statement that had Congress granted him the emergency powers, it could have been among the solutions to perennial gridlock along Metro Manila's main thoroughfare.

The measure seeking to bestow Duterte with emergency powers to solve traffic jams was stalled in the Senate despite being approved by the House of Representatives, as issues of corruption hounded the bill.

Since the 17th Congress is about to close, Tugade floated the possibility of giving the bill another shot in the next Congress.

"Of course, we will push for it," he told reporters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking of Metro Manila Subway project in Valenzuela City.

"But we can only do so much. If we push and push and push at ayaw naman makinig ng mga tao at hahanapan lang ako ng kadahilanan para mai-delay, ano ho ang mangyayari?" Tugade asked, noting that the granting of emergency powers is in the lawmakers' court. —KBK, GMA News