Without emergency powers and a sufficient budget, President Duterte says he cannot solve the traffic mess in Metro Manila.

“Traffic, nobody, not even me, can solve the traffic if there is no money to spend for new infrastructure. It could be a railway, a new highway there somewhere,” he said in a TV interview on Thursday.

Duterte lamented that Congress did not give Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade enough leeway to work on the traffic problem as it did not give him enough funds.

But Duterte said he is giving Tugade a free hand in solving the traffic crisis.

“I don’t know how to solve this. As far as I am concerned, Tugade is there, he has the brains to do it. I am very sure of that. He has asked for the money, but it is not forthcoming. So we have to look for something better,” he said.

The President is banking on the help of China, which has pledged to help ease the traffic mess by providing trains and other transport projects.

“If there is no money, which Congress did not give to Tugade (for) lack of trust, I do not know…But my hope is if China will help,” he said.

Investors from Korea, China, Japan and Slovakia, meanwhile, are interested in the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects, according to the President.

Duterte said the traffic jam along EDSA is a “mega problem.”

“Like a drainage, I need to get a new plumber somewhere to fix the ingress of the water along EDSA. On how to do it, you must resort to draconian measures to limit the entry of everybody. But then you have to improve the mobility of the LRT and the MRT,” he added.

On the implementation of traffic rules along the inner streets, the President said these are not under the barangay government.

“Like EDSA, nobody can work on it because it’s a national road. Traffic, the catch is, we continue to give licenses and rights for the car manufacturers. Some a knock-down, but whatever it is, it is with government’s permission that you manufacture or build these vehicles,” he said.

“You cannot continue giving licenses for people to assemble knockdowns, and ask them not to ply the streets. You cannot stop an activity which you earlier approve, and then curtail them. It’s not just unlawful, but will also drive investments away,” he added.