Cartoon unfair to MMDA

I am writing in reaction to the Inquirer’s Jan. 12 editorial cartoon which depicted a bundle of payola money allegedly given to our agency, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Frankly, I was taken aback by the illustration and found the portrayal of the agency, which I serve as officer in charge/general manager, unfair not only to me but also to the thousands of civil servants under me, who are doing their best to diligently and religiously do the tasks they are mandated to do. What made it worse is that the cartoon portrayed the whole agency as not doing anything to improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila while getting bribe money.

I am also very disheartened that the cartoon mocks the hard-working men and women of our agency. Although I acknowledge that every agency, government or otherwise, has its own flaws, the cartoon made a sweeping and resounding statement—that the MMDA is corrupt.

May I request that I be furnished reports and/or documents supporting the accusation so that I can personally investigate those implicated and swiftly act against those found guilty as alleged. I have repeatedly said in public and in private that I will not tolerate any corruption and illegal practices inside the agency, and I have shown this with the actions I have taken in the past five months since I took over the MMDA.

In fact, in the last couple of months, especially these past few weeks, in our drive to weed out the payola system and at the same time decongest Edsa, the MMDA has embarked on various operations involving the transport sector, such as the enforcement of the “nose in, nose out” policy, and the anticolorum and out-of-line campaign.

As of this writing, our agency has started an internal investigation on some of our personnel who are allegedly receiving bribe money from transport operators.

Rest assured that we will continue to cleanse our agency of unscrupulous personnel and to serve the public with integrity.

THOMAS M. ORBOS, OIC/general manager, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority