Poe pushes for bill requiring free access to Wi-Fi, restrooms in terminals

Sen. Grace Poe. (File photo by CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net)

Sen. Grace Poe has endorsed for plenary approval a measure that would provide free Wi-Fi access in transport terminals and prohibit collection of fees for the use of sanitary facilities in transport stops, rest areas, and terminals.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, Poe presented on the floor on Monday Senate Bill No. 1749, which seeks to improve land transportation terminals, stations, stops, rest areas and roll-on/roll-off  (Roro) terminals “through simple, effective and practical measures.”

Under the bill, owners, operators, or administrators of land transport terminals, stations, stops, rest areas, and Roro terminals are mandated to provide clean, sanitary facilities for passengers.

“Second, it seeks to prohibit the collection of fees from passengers for the use of sanitary facilities in transport terminals. This institutionalizes the LTFRB’s  existing guidelines on the same issue,” Poe said in his sponsorship speech.

LTFRB is the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The bill, she said, also mandates the provision of free internet in terminals, which should  have already been covered by Free Internet Access in Public Places Act (Republic Act No. 10929).

“Pinag-iibayo natin lalo na mapabuti ang access sa wifi ng mga pasaherong Pilipino. Ito ay suportado ng DICT at ng mismong mga operators ng bus at samahan ng land transportation sa bansa,” the senator said.

DICT is the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

If enacted into law, the measure will likewise require the establishment of a lactation station inside the terminals, in compliance with the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 (RA No. 7600, as amended by RA No. 10028).

“It will improve the experience of weary Filipino travelers who use these transport terminals during their long trips,” Poe said. “It is an improvement which will be immediately seen and felt. And it will show Filipinos that the government listens and cares. It fixes the ‘broken windows’ and gives the impression that no problem is too small for government to repair.”

She stressed that the bill, which she initiated, also covers Roro terminals.

READ: Poe wants free internet in transport terminals, stops

“Mr. President, this measure is a win-win proposal,” Poe said. “It will improve the experience of weary Filipino travelers who use these transport terminals during their long trips. It is an improvement which will be immediately seen and felt.”

Poe then called for a speedy approval of the bill in the plenary. /atm