Poe dismayed as emergency power vs traffic woes sits on backburner
Senator Grace Poe.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
Senator Grace Poe has expressed dismay over the continued delay of the passage of a bill granting President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to address the traffic situation in the country.
“Noong umpisa, ganado ang ating mga kasamahan. Pero nitong huli, dahil wala sa priority measures, hindi na napapansin,” Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, said in an interview with DZMM on Wednesday.
(In the beginning, my colleagues seemed up for it. But lately, because it was not included in the priority measures, it was not being noticed.)
“Ako’y umasa noong Sona (State of the Nation Address) na sasabihin ng Pangulo priority itong emergency powers (versus trapiko)… (A)ko’y nakikisimpatya hindi lang sa nagiging problema ng Pangulo sa paglutas ng traffic kundi lalo na ‘yung ating mga kababayan na matagal na nating parehong adbokasiya ito,” she said.
(I was expecting that the President would say in his Sona to prioritize the emergency powers. I sympathize not just to the President who has bears the brunt of solving the traffic problem, but also to our countrymen who have long made this their advocacy.)
In August 2016, Poe filed Senate Bill No. 1284 or “An Act Compelling the Government to Address the Transportation and Congestion Crisis Through the Grant of Emergency Powers to the President.”
The measure, however, remained pending in the Senate.
“Narinig ninyo ‘yung nagiging prayoridad ngayon ni SP Koko (Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III) ay federalismo. Alam mo ‘yung istruktura ng gobyerno, importanteng deliberasyon ‘yan pero siguro ‘yung agarang makakalutas ng problema natin ‘yun dapat unahin,” Poe said.
(You have heard that SP Koko’s priority is federalism. It will take a lot of time to deliberate the structure of the government. But I think that we should prioritize matters which require urgent solutions.)
READ: Poe hits gov’t’s lack of action plan to ease traffic
The senator said she hopes Duterte himself should prod the Senate to immediate pass the emergency powers bill.
“Kaya nga po sabi ko sana nga pagalitan n’ya rin kami run sa Senado na ‘uy bilisan na ninyo yan’ kasi talagang malaking tulong sana ito,” said Poe.
(That’s why I was hoping he would scold the Senate during the Sona to expedite it, because it would have helped a lot.) IDL
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