The Senate is firming up safeguards against potential conflict of interests among major players tasked to undertake multibillion-peso traffic-reduction projects set to be fast-tracked under the emergency powers Congress is crafting for President Duterte.
Sen. Grace Poe, who chairs the Senate hearings on the Palace-proposed emergency powers to address the crippling traffic problem, assured on Monday “adequate preventive provisions” will be incorporated in the emergency powers bill being finalized for plenary consideration.
“Yes,” Poe said, citing strict compliance by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) with the Freedom of Information (FOI) order allowing public access to government records, when asked about adopting safeguards against misuse of emergency powers in carrying out big-ticket projects likely to be exempted from strict bidding rules required in other public works projects.
“First, we intend to include in the [emergency powers] bill an FOI provision that will require the DOTr to publish its contracts and dealings with private entities not just upon completion of the contract, but even during the negotiation stage,” she added.
The senator said they are also enlisting lawmakers to reinforce emergency project monitors.
“There will be a congressional oversight committee that will ensure anomalies are not committed before, during and after the procurement process, among others,” Poe said. She told the BusinessMirror that “these matters would be looked into and finalized as we hammer out the committee report” on the emergency powers bill.
“All applicable and appropriate provisions to avoid or prevent conflicts of interest will be put in place,” Poe said.
In a separate interview, Sen. Miguel F. Zubiri confirmed that senators are making sure that compliance with the FOI’s strict provisions on transparency in government projects are being included in the emergency powers to be granted to President Duterte.
He said the transparency provisions will also cover existing provisions on public biddings.
“We will also strengthen the mode of checking compliance with rules on public works projects,” Zubiri added.
The potential conflict of interest issue was earlier raised by House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez against Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade and his undersecretary Noel Kintanar, as Suarez disclosed that Tugade and Suarez were “former executives of the contractors” involved in a common-station project for the Metro Rail Transit and Light Railway Transit.
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