Dare You to Fly
abueno@theguidon.com
Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando is not only infamous for his trademark blue-and-pink paint, or for the distracting tarps with his face on them. Just this month, the chairman and his office received much flak from the Ateneo community for suddenly switching the U-turn slots in Katipunan, and for suddenly implementing a tricycle ban without informing those affected beforehand.
By the time this column is sent to press, traffic along Katipunan may have improved because of the U-turn slots or the tricycle ban. That, however, is not the issue—the lack of information prior to the implementation of the said changes is.
The least the MMDA could have done is provide the community with preliminary information on the new U-turn slots or the ban. The community is not psychic and does not know what goes inside the minds of those who suddenly impose policies.
To be fair, the tricycle ban is indicated in the law. Still, the MMDA should have given at least a week’s allowance to commuters in order to let them make necessary changes to their routines. The least the MMDA could have done is make sure people are reminded of the law before imposing the changes.
University Physical Plant traffic reports all indicate that the MMDA did not give notice on the U-turn changes. When I rode a tricycle on August 14, a day before the ban, an MMDA officer hailed the tricycle I was riding, then told the driver: “Bukas, hindi na kayo pwede sa Katipunan (Tomorrow, you are prohibited on Katipunan).”
The driver asked how they would be able to get to the Ateneo if they were not allowed along Katipunan Avenue. The MMDA officer replied something along the lines of “Yun ang kailangan niyong pag-isipan (That’s what you need to think about).”
While sometimes, these tricycle drivers overcharge students, I cannot help but feel for them in this case, especially when I heard that MMDA officer. Talk about not caring for the welfare of these drivers.
If the MMDA thought about the public’s welfare before implementing their road policies, then maybe traffic during the first few days of the new U-turn slots, or the complaints regarding the tricycle ban, would not have been as bad.
MMDA had the money to print Bayani’s egoistic posters, which do nothing more than announce false ideals and display Bayani’s face at the expense of taxpayers. Why not post tarps announcing road changes instead?
The MMDA has “public announcement boards” made of meshed steel along Katipunan Avenue. You’ll see them before the flyover. Why didn’t MMDA officials think of posting upcoming road changes on those boards?
Interestingly, the MMDA has a history of suddenly implementing changes without regard for those affected. There are cases of human rights violations on the MMDA’s clearing operations for sidewalk vendors. Their other U-turn slot decisions are infamous, too, for their sudden implementation.
All these come from the leadership of someone who wants to be the next Philippine president: a lack of concern for citizens, a faulty information dissemination system, and a close-mindedness that refuses to hear what the public is shouting in his ear.
