Palace welcomes proposal to grant Duterte emergency powers to fast-track Build, Build, Build projects

November 14, 2019

Malacanang welcomed on Thursday a proposal from a lawmaker to grant President Rodrigo Duterte emergency powers to accelerate the implementation of the "Build, Build, Build" infrastructure projects.

"I think the (proposal) of Congressman (Joey) Salceda, was good," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a press briefing.

He noted that one of the reasons why the project implementation was slow was the problem on the right-of-way.

"There's problem with the owners (of the property); others sought for TRO (temporary restraining order)...but if there are powers already, there's continuous work," said Panelo, also chief presidential legal counsel.

Salceda, a congressman from Albay and administration ally, said he would file a bill seeking emergency powers for Duterte to fast-track the implementation of the infrastructure projects.

During the early part of the Duterte administration, the Department of Transportation had asked Congress to grant the President emergency powers to address the traffic congestion on Edsa.

However, some senators opposed this, prompting Duterte to say he would no longer insist for emergency powers now that he is halfway on his term of office. 

He even slammed Senator Grace Poe, the most vocal legislator in opposing the grant of emergency powers to him. Celerina Monte/DMS