- President-elect Rodrigo Duterte plans to ask for emergency powers in order to solve the traffic in Metro Manila
- Duterte will need Congressional approval to yield such emergency powers
- Incoming Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade says everyone needs to sacrifice to solve the traffic problem
The incoming Transportation secretary says President-elect Rodrigo Duterte plans to seek emergency powers in order to solve the worsening traffic crisis in the Metro Manila area.
Incoming Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade explained the Duterte administration would need specific powers such as opening private subdivisions to traffic in order to ease congestion in the Metro.
Calling the congestion of Manila roads as a “traffic crisis,” Tugade also noted that such problems remain unresolved due to obstacles such as restraining orders, injunctions, right of way issues, local government regulations, and particular social issues.
“Yung quality of life natin, nababoy na. Mas maraming oras na tayong ginugugol sa kalsada… Nabababoy na kabuhayan natin at kung di ito crisis, ano ang crisis? [Our quality of life is being desecrated. We spend more time on the road. Our livelihood is being desecrated and if this isn’t a crisis, what is a crisis?] Will it be confiscatory? No. Will it be unreasonable? No, because when subdivisions are affected, you have to compensate for the road maintenance and security. If you get properties to address traffic congestion, you won’t confiscate it. There will be compensation. It will not be exercised capriciously and arbitrarily. It will have to be exercised in the interest of the majority and the interest of common good. We will not open all subdivisions,” Tugade told the Philippine Star.
In order to access such emergency powers, however, Duterte will need Congressional approval.
“The crisis will have to be declared by Congress. That’s the law. Hopefully, Congress will help us so that the proposal can be implemented,” the incoming Transportation secretary added.
Tugade also says that the President-elect can use these emergency powers for up to two years. He also says, however, that everyone will have to make sacrifices in order to improve the traffic condition in the nation’s capital.
“We all have to feel the pinch. All of us have to sacrifice. We have been beset by lack of discipline. We have to raise the level of discipline and to do that, a personal sacrifice is needed,” he said.
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