A former veteran official of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is pushing for amendments to the Right-of-Way (ROW) Act of 2016, also known as Republic Act (RA) No.10752
In his sponsorship speech, Bulacan 6th district Rep. Salvador Pleyto, a vice chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Highways, 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,” said Pleyto, a former DPWH undersecretary.
Among his proposed amendments, the rookie legislator 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).
Often, when there are new roads to be constructed that would pass the ancestral domains of the ICCs/IPs, the government, particularly, the DPWH experience difficulty in acquiring these road alignments causing further delays in the road implementation, he noted.
“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.
Pleyto, who had worked in the DPWH for over 40 years prior to his election as congressman last May, noted that 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,” he added.
Currently pending in the House are five bills that seek amendments to the ROW Act.
These are House Bill (HB) No. 183 by Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales, Jr.; HB No. 1973 by Rep. Romeo Momo, who is also the chairman of the Committee on Public Works and Highways, HB No 2824 by Rep. Ralph Recto, HB No. 4601 by Rep. Bernadette Herrera, and, HB No 2086 by Rep. Pleyto.