House body pushes amendments to ROW Act for better infra program
AMENDMENTS to the Right-of-Way (ROW) Act or Republic Act (RA) 10752 to ensure a better infrastructure program of the government are being pushed by the House committee on public works and highways.
In his sponsorship speech, Bulacan 6th District Rep. Salvador A. Pleyto, vice chairman of the panel, urged his colleagues to harmonize all pending bills with the same intention to amend some provisions of the existing law.
“By harmonizing these proposed amendments, we hope we can pass the improved and amended Right-of-Way Act during this 19th Congress,” Pleyto, a member of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), said.
Pleyto said that there is no provision in RA 10752 concerning ROW for areas within ancestral domains occupied by Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) or Indigenous Peoples (IPs).
More often, when there are new roads to be constructed that would pass the ancestral domains of the ICCs/IPs, the government, particularly, the DPWH is experiencing difficulty in acquiring these road alignments causing further delays in the road implementation, Pleyto added.
“The implementing agency should have a closer coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and shall conduct constant dialogues with the ICCs/IPs regarding the benefits derived from the road opening. ROW acquisition for the road to be constructed within the ancestral domain shall strictly comply with RA 8371 of 1997 particularly Section 5 thereof,” Pleyto said.
As noted by Pleyto, who has worked in the Department of Public Works and Highways for more than 40 years, problems on ROW acquisition hamper the speedy completion of government infrastructure projects on time and on budget.
“This would further delay the beneficial outcome to the Filipino people to use the needed infrastructure projects, particularly, the roads and bridges,” Pleyto added.
There are five bills pending in the House of Representatives introducing amendments to RA 10752 of the ROW Act.
These are House Bill (HB) 183 by Congressman Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, Jr.; HB No. 1973 by Congressman Romeo S. Momo, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Highways, HB No 2824 by Congressman Ralph G. Recto, HB No. 4601 by Congresswoman Bernadette Herrera, and, HB No 2086 by Pleyto.
