Duterte slams Poe for saying emergency powers prone to corruption: 'Never mind'

Senator Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte / file photo from Inquirer


Manila, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte has slammed reelectionist Senator Grace Poe for allegedly attributing malice to his plan to ask funds from Congress to ease EDSA traffic situation, which has been congested for so long now.

According to the Chief Executive, Poe had been suspicious that the money for the project will be wasted to corruption.



"You know, when I started to work as President, we asked for money,  but I didn’t say that I was asking for emergency powers. It was the suggestion of my staff," the president said during a campaign sortie in Davao City last Saturday. 

"In Congress, Grace Poe made a comment. She said: 'That amount of money is just too big. We might lose all that money to corruption.' So when I heard it — we don’t know each other that well — I told the Congress: 'Never mind. I will not ask for money anymore, forget it,'" he added. 

Earlier, the President announced that he had to drop his plan to pursue asking the Congress for funds for transportation and traffic congestion related projects because of a female senator who said that it is prone to corruption.

Poe is the public services Senate committee chair, which also held hearings on proposals to grant the president special emergency powers.

Meanwhile, in earlier 2018, Poe said that there is a need to grant extraordinary powers as the current law does sufficiently provide ways to effectively address traffic congestion in the country.

The senator also said that the president’s mixed signals to lawmakers delayed the passage of the bill.


"Though the president initially asked for emergency powers, he said later on that he does not need it. This sent mixed signals to members of the House and the Senate,” Poe said


Source: Philstar






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