Power overreach afflicts Poe

We all know Madam Grace is preparing for her bid as president again. Let’s not deny it

Senator Grace Poe should know the limits of her authority and her “feel of power” amid her demand for the resignation of a member of the Executive branch, Department of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said yesterday.

“Ma’am thinks too highly of herself. Even in the Executive, does she feel entitled by her feeling of power? Sus Maria. We serve and I serve at the pleasure of the President,” Tugade said.

“We all know Madam Grace is preparing for her bid as president again. Let’s not deny it, that’s her style. She’s using transportation as her platform in the Senate as a ‘thriller,’ so she can be seen and heard,” he added.

The Transport chief denied Poe’s accusation of a lack of a master plan on the use of emergency powers to solve traffic woes in Metro Manila.

In a television interview, Tugade enumerated the agency’s plans on how to use the grant of emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The plans include a transportation infrastructure plan made by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a plan submitted to and reviewed by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), and a 30-year roadmap filed as legislation.

“If it’s just planning, we have those. But we were not given a chance,” Tugade said.

The DoTr chief said they were unable to present these plans during the hearing with the Senate Committee on Public Services chaired by Poe last Tuesday as the discussions stalled on railway issues.

“When we had that hearing, we were not given the chance to lay out and amplify our plans. We got stuck on railway issues,” Tugade said.

Due to the delay in the grant of emergency powers which the DoTr has been asking for since the beginning of Mr. Duterte’s term, he said they would no longer ask for it as they have “more important other things to do than talk and talk and talk.”

On Wednesday, the DoTr said emergency powers would allow for the immediate adoption of policies that normally require time-consuming amendments of existing laws and ordinances.

“It would provide for a platform to fast-track procurement, right-of-way acquisition, and relocation process,” the DoTr Communications and Commuter Affairs Office said in a message.

It added emergency powers would also allow for the immediate implementation of high-impact priority projects “on a shorter gestation period and/or enabling partial operability.”

“Let’s not politicize traffic. If they don’t want to give emergency powers, fine. They can keep it. They should just let us work as we see fit,” Tugade added.

Despite saying he will not press Congress to grant the emergency power to solve traffic woes, he got backing from former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chief Sen. Francis Tolentino.

“Our current traffic problem should, in no way, undermine the capacity of Secretary Tugade to lead DoTr and perform the duties of his office. I have personally witnessed this guy’s dedication in work and his commitment to make a difference, as we were once together in the President’s Cabinet. Secretary Tugade’s integrity is at no cost. He is very diligent and more than fit for the job of a Transportation Secretary,” Tolentino said in a statement.

“Let us not put the blame on Secretary Tugade and the DoTr the endless problem in traffic. The Secretary and his department can only do as much with whatever resources and authority they have at their disposal,” Tolentino went.

“That’s why we are pushing the emergency powers for the President so that we can expedite the implementation of the infrastructure programs designed to help ease traffic. How can we ease the traffic if we don’t have enough roads for the volume of the cars that use it?” he asked.

Tolentino filed Senate Bill 213 or the Special Emergency Powers Act.

Under the said measure, Duterte will be granted emergency powers that will employ the necessary government resources, exercise executive actions and necessary measures to solve escalating problems, and adopt short-term, mid-term, and long-term development plans for a sustainable and efficient transport system.