Duterte also hits NLEX for glitches in system, not doing trial run
(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to fire officials of the Toll Regulatory Board for the traffic fiasco caused by the RFID mess in tollways that started with Duterhe implementation of cashless transactions on Dec. 1.
“You know, I have to weed out incompetence. Listen very carefully to all and sundry, I do not want you … becoming a deadwood. If you cannot perform what is expected of you, then the best that you can do for decency’s sake, resign, and do not wait to be fired because masakit iyan, mapahiya ka,” he said in his recent Talk to the Nation on Wednesday night, Dec. 16.
Duterte also hit the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) for the traffic gridlock on their tollways that had stalled vehicles for hours. Glitches in the reading of the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) stickers also occurred. Putting RFID stickers for motorists who still had none when they passed through the tollway also contributed to the traffic.
“The one who built NLEX — ang kita nila diyan ‘yung sa toll. Then they introduced an innovative system pero hindi naman nila pinag-aralan,” he said.
He blamed NLEX for not doing a trial run first before implementing the system, and hit TRB for allowing the implementation of the full cashless system without checking on the possible glitches first.
-TRB, NLEX hit for “incompetence”-
He called both the NLEX and the TRB “incompetent” and dared TRB officials to resign. He said he is prepared to replace them all.
“Mayroon tayong regulator. Ang problema ang mga regulator is another set of incompetent people. They should not have allowed the system right now to put into use without a trial run — trial — for about one week — at titingnan nila and anticipate what would be the problem,” President Duterte said.
“Ito may system but actually it’s flawed, and the people behind this are really incompetent,” he said.
Duterte said that before introducing a new innovation, there should have been proper study of the system, including all the possible glitches that can happen. The result was very heavy traffic that reached even Manila, he said.
He also lashed at the incompetence during the first day of the cashless toll implementation where
“And on the day of the implementation. Saan ka makakita doon pa ilagay ‘yung mga sticker while the traffic — the queuing was almost also exponential? Hanggang puwet na. Dumating na sa Maynila. Anong klase itong…?,” he said.
-Duterte: “Kami ang nasisisi”-
President Duterte also explained that any failures that would greatly inconvenience the public would reflect on his administration.
That is why, he said, he understood the public’s sentiment if it came to a point that there were calls for his resignation.
“iyong failure ninyo, would reflect on us. Hindi man sila… Sabi ko nga at the end of the day, when people would start to talk about in the days passed, they would, sa panahon ni Duterte, nakita mo nagkabuhol-buhol.’ Kami ang nasisisi,” he explained.
Duterte also threatened to fire incompetent officials of the TRB, and replace them with people who know what to do, even if they had previously worked under the Aquino or Arroyo administration.
“I don’t think you really know what is a regulator is. That’s the problem. Basta ka lang pumasok ka sa gobyerno, nag-take oath kayo. Hindi ninyo alam the length and breadth of what a regulator must do. If I see another glitches there, mayroon pala kayong pinag — dito, may memorandum pala kayo, Art. Saan iyong mga tao? Can I fire them? Palitan ko na lang lahat. Iyong may experience lang, iyong dumaan ng administrasyon. I don’t care if it’s during the time of Aquino and Arroyo,” he said.
In the end, he reminded government officials to always see to it that public interest is protected.
“Do not make it hard for the people to survive. I’ve been telling you I intend just to make Philippines a comfortable place,” he added.
(Eagle News Service)