The Senate may be able to give emergency powers to President Duterte to resolve the horrendous traffic problem in urban areas of the country on or before it goes on a Christmas break on December 17.
Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate Public Services Committee, issued this assessment after conducting the first of a series of public hearings on three bills and three resolutions seeking to provide emergency powers to the President to address the traffic mess.
The emergency powers to be granted is co-terminus to the three-year life of the current 17th Congress that ends on June 30, 2019 but Poe said the actual life of the emergency powers would actually start early next year.
(Mario B. Casayuran)