Senate passes on 3rd reading bill creating National Transportation Safety Board

By Vanne Elaine Terrazola 

The Senate unanimously approved on third and final reading Monday the bill proposing the creation of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Voting 20-0, members of the Upper Chamber passed on final reading Senate Bill No. 1077, or the proposed NTSB Act which seeks to establish an agency to focus on investigating air, highway, railroad, pipeline and maritime accidents.

“The NTSB is long overdue considering the transportation mishaps that have happened in the past that claimed innocent lives,” Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the public services committee and sponsor of the said bill, said in a statement following its approval.

“With thorough, timely and substantial investigation, we will be able to prevent those accidents from happening again and give justice to the victims and their families,” she added.

The proposed NTSB shall operate under the Office of the President and shall have seven members led by a chairperson, who will have a five-year term and a rank of department secretary.

As part of its investigation of transportation-related incidents, the board shall be granted authority to conduct inspections and hearings; as well as summon witnesses and relevant documents.

The report of its investigation shall be submitted to Congress for the assessment of existing practices and regulations related to safety measures.

SB No. 1077 also proposes to mandate the NSTB to proactively conduct studies on making the transport sector as safe as possible by looking into the causes and determinants of accidents, among others, to guide the government in crafting policies and regulations.

Reported data from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) showed that 116,906 road accidents, or an equivalent to 320 accidents every day, or 13 accidents every hour, occurred in 2018.

The 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safety also revealed that road traffic injuries cost the Philippines about 2.6 percent of the entire gross domestic product.

SB No. 1077 was a consolidation of the bills filed by Sens. Poe, Juan Edgardo Angara, and Ramon Revilla Jr.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/12/09/senate-passes-on-3rd-reading-bill-creating-national-transportation-safety-board/