Poe refiles vetoed transport safety board bill

• Senator Grace Poe has revived her push for a Philippine Transportation Safety Board

• Poe refiled Senate Bill No. 1121, or the proposed PTSB Act, which aims to establish an agency in charge of investigating transportation-related accidents and incidents

• The senator says the PTSB will not be a mere reactive government body limited to investigating accidents, but will conduct safety inspections, assess existing policies, and undertake and publish studies on making transportation safe and injury-free as much as possible

Senator Grace Poe has refiled a vetoed bill creating the Philippine Transportation Safety Board (PTSB).

Senate Bill (SB) No. 1121, or the proposed PTSB Act, aims to establish an agency that will be in charge of investigating transportation-related accidents and incidents.

“The desire for safety standards in our transportation system stands tall amid fatal road tragedies along the way,” Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, said in a statement.

Poe said that institutional change is crucial to address transportation accidents and prevent them “efficiently and expeditiously”.

“Currently, our transport sector is governed by a scattered hodgepodge of regulators, bureaus and agencies. Transport safety is part of their respective mandates, but it is neither their primary focus nor their core specialization,” she said.

“We need a single dedicated agency which will not only investigate accidents but also look into predicting, reducing and averting them,” Poe added.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier vetoed House Bill No. 9030/SB No. 1077, which among others proposed a seven-member board that would investigate air, highway, railroad, pipeline and maritime accidents to improve transport safety in the country.

The measure, sponsored by Poe, was ratified by the 18^th Congress in a plenary session on June 1 after the House of Representatives and Senate reconciled their versions of the bill.

Marcos said the functions intended for the proposed safety board are already being exercised by different agencies. He said creating a new body will only “create functional duplication, confusion as to authority, ineffectiveness, and deficiency in the performance of responsibilities.”

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, Safe Travel Alliance, and International Air Transport Association expressed disappointment over the veto, saying “there are limitations on the ability of the investigating agencies to delve deeper and find forensic evidence on the real cause of the accidents or by witnesses of the accidents.”

“Because most of these agencies are also tasked to regulate and/or operate the sector, there is an inherent conflict of interest in the performance of their duties as an investigating body,” the groups added.

Under SB 1121, the PTSB will be tasked to delve deep into the facts, conditions and circumstances involving aircraft, motor vehicle, railroad, pipeline, maritime, aerial and other serious incidents in the transportation of people and property.

The proposed body is empowered to conduct hearings, administer oaths, require attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of papers, contracts, agreements and other relevant documents deemed necessary in an investigation.

The proposed PTSB is mandated to submit its findings to the Office of the President, of which it will be an attached agency, and make the said report public 60 days from the completion of its probe.

Poe pointed out that the PTSB will not be a mere reactive government body that will be limited to investigating accidents.

It will conduct safety inspections on land, sea and air transport; assess existing policies; and undertake and publish studies on making transportation safe and injury-free as much as possible.

“In this sense, the board performs a proactive function, looking into the causes and determinants of transport accidents and helping prevent them. After all, prevention is always better than investigation,” Poe said.

Over the weekend, at least 30 people were injured when a bus fell off a ravine in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. Initial reports point to failed brakes as the cause.

“As we speak, road accidents happen taking or maiming lives. We must act faster before the next mishap could take place,” Poe said.

The lawmaker added that the veto of the bill passed during the 18^th Congress should not be the end of the road to the goal of giving Filipinos a safe travel experience every day.

“The country needs a single body with a clearly defined mission to effectively institutionalize a higher level of transportation safety. We hope we can give this to our people,” Poe said.