Special power for Duterte ‘won’t attain its objective anymore’ — Cayetano

House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano. INQUIRER.net file photo / Pathricia Ann V. Roxas

MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is not inclined to support a lawmaker’s proposal to grant special powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to hasten the success of the government’s infrastructure programs.

The Taguig-Pateros representative said the special powers should have been given during the first few months of Duterte’s term as this would no longer serve its purpose now that the Chief Executive only has less than three years left.

“… the President already said ayaw na niya ng emergency o special powers. I mean, hindi ibinigay nung time na dapat binigay so you know, it will have some advantage pero kumbaga, it will not attain its objective anymore,” Cayetano said in an interview in Tagaytay City on Thursday.

(… the President already said he no longer wants emergency or special powers. I mean, it was not given during the time that it should have been given, so you know, it will have some advantage but it will not attain its objective anymore.)

“Ayaw na ni Presidente eh (The President no longer wants the power), so he made that clear to us. So, you know, why give it to the Executive when the Executive says itself, they’d rather focus on the project,” he added.

Instead, Cayetano said he would ask congressmen to focus on long-term solutions to Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic jams like developing areas outside the capital region.

But in a Palace briefing also on Thursday, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo welcomed Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda’s proposed law.

On Wednesday, Salceda filed House Bill No. 5456 which seeks to give Duterte special powers to “utilize all necessary government resources, exercise police power, and employ executive actions and measures to ensure the effective implementation” of the 75 flagship projects under the “Build, build, build” program.

Salceda, a pro-administration lawmaker, filed his bill after Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon dismissed the Duterte administration’s ambitious multi-trillion infrastructure program as a “dismal failure” since only nine out of the 75 flagship projects have been under construction more than three years after Duterte assumed office in 2016.

Cayetano dismissed Drilon’s statement as “fake news.”

Bills granting emergency powers to Duterte have been filed in the previous 17th Congress but they failed to prosper in the Senate amid questions on its effectivity to address the Metro Manila’s traffic gridlock.

Edited by JPV

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1189512/hasten-build-build-build-program-give-duterte-special-powers-solon#ixzz65EexsT3L

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1189125/drilon-build-build-build-is-a-dismal-failure#ixzz65E6uJyIv