The House Committee on Transportation moved Wednesday to harmonize three bills that seek to punish the crime of "road rage" in the Philippines.
Up for consolidation are House Bill (HB) Nos. 3308, 3387, and 5759. They were authored by Manila 3rd district Rep. John Marvin Nieto, Quezon City 2nd district Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo, and San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan Rep. Florida Robes, respectively.
"Clearly, we have support from the Department of Transportation, LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) the Highway Patrol Group (on the bills). The authors are appealing for us to act appropriately but since these are three different bills, we need to consolidate the bills," panel chairman Samar 1st district Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento said after listening to the inputs of the invited resource persons to a virtual hearing.
This prompted Nueva Ecija 1st district Rep. Estrellita Suansing to move for the creation of a technical working group that would study the possible consolidation. The motion was subsequently approved.
"In the Philippines, eight out of 10 drivers exhibit aggressive behavior at least once a year, while nine of 10 drivers think of aggressive driving as a threat to their personal safety. If rude and aggressive driving is not put to a halt, we can expect more deaths resulting from road rage," Robes said in her sponsorship speech.
"Laging nagkakagalit sa daan, nagkakaroon pa ng labasan ng baril na nakikita natin sa telebisyon (Tempers flare on the road and guns get involved, as we've seen often on television). We can't afford to lose human lives because of unethical behavior and aggressive driving," she stressed.
Castelo gave similar justification for her bill in her explanatory note.
"Recent incidents and offenses resulting road rage have now raised this emerging phenomenon as a serious public safety concern. If unabated, it will cause harm and injury or even death to motorists on the road who might figure in an aggressive behavior from some drivers on our busy roads and highways," she said.
Castelo is specifically pushing for a two-year imprisonment and/or a fine of P200,000 against a driver of a motor vehicle "found to have committed aggressive behavior indicative of road rage."
"It is not as if no solution could put an end to this rise in road rage. Punishments are in order if only to save countless motorists from every potential threat, harm, death," the Quezon City lawmaker said.
Robes further noted: "It's high time that the government should regulate road behavior to ensure the safety of Filipino people traveling on the road."
Once the three measures are harmonized, the resulting substitute bill will be approved by the Sarmiento panel. After this, the bill will be sent to the plenary for its consideration.