MMDA’s Lim: Corruption root cause of traffic

Danilo Lim

The newly appointed chair of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) vowed on Tuesday to focus his efforts on eradicating corruption in the agency, saying it was the root cause of all problems in the streets—from ambulant vendors to illegally parked cars.

MMDA chair Danilo Lim said that in line with this, he would call for an audit of all the transactions and contracts entered into by the agency “not necessarily to run after people but to know where I’m starting from.”

Lim added that he would also push for an inventory of MMDA personnel and equipment, saying some employees may be transferred or dismissed to bring back the “culture of discipline.”

“Let’s be honest to ourselves and admit that we, too, have a problem. We hear that there are MMDA personnel who are doing unscrupulous activities; we will have to address that,” he told reporters after a meeting with the agency’s department heads yesterday.

Lim said that problems such as the proliferation of ambulant vendors, “colorum” (operating without a franchise) vehicles and illegally parked cars resulting in heavy traffic were just “symptoms of the real problem.”

Someone, he stressed, was making money from all of these. “They would not have the guts if they were not in contact [with someone in authority],” he said.

Asked how he plans to address traffic along the major thoroughfare of Edsa and other congested roads, Lim said he does not have any “fancy solution” or “complicated scheme” but only a “back-to-basics” approach which would focus on the strict enforcement of traffic rules and regulations.

A retired brigadier general who led a coup attempt against then President Corazon Aquino, Lim is the third person to head the agency under the current administration. Emerson Carlos served for a month as MMDA officer in charge, before current general manager Tim Orbos took over from August last year, also in an acting capacity.