AFP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–A Malacañang official on Thursday said they are studying the option of asking emergency powers for the President to lift the truck ban in Manila in a bid to resolve the traffic gridlock affecting truckers.
During the hearing of the House of Representatives Metro Manila development committee, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said he fully agrees to the proposal of Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice to grant the President emergency powers to invalidate Manila’s truck ban.
An Aquino ally, Erice said he assessed the horrendous traffic in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) last Friday and that the trucks started to choke in Manila, where former President and now mayor Joseph Estrada imposed a truck ban to alleviate traffic.
“Kung ayaw sumunod ng Manila, dapat gamitin na ng national government ang emergency powers niya…Ang problema ang Manila, hindi Caloocan hindi NLEX,” Erice said.
(If Manila does not want to follow, then the national government should use its emergency powers. Manila’s problem is not Caloocan’s, not NLEX’s.)
“Before the truck ban, wala namang problema,” he added.
(Before the truck ban, there was no problem.)
“Yes, we fully agreed… We are exploring legal studies on certain things” Almendras replied.
Committee chairman and Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo said the chamber would be willing to grant the President emergency powers if only to resolve traffic.
Traffic snarled last Friday as trucks were stuck in a gridlock from NLEX going to the Port of Manila not just because of the truck ban but also due to the volume of trucks going to the ports to decongest the backlog on goods, Almendras said.
Palace has apologized for the monster traffic jam on Friday. With the port congestion already affecting the economy, Malacañang had given owners of the containers and truckers two weeks to remove their container vans from the Manila port. But this resulted in a massive truck movement that led to heavy traffic.
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