"Mayors of the National Capital Region always make noises about their willingness to work as a group to confront common problems in Metro Manila or the NCR. The question has always been who would be in charge. Elected mayors refuse to be ordered around by the chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), who is an unelected presidential appointee. xxx But because NCR mayors behave like senators, believing they are all independent republics, the MMDA chief often finds himself toothless in dealing with the many problems besetting his jurisdiction. One proposal that still hasn’t been tried is to amend the law and place the NCR under an elected governor, but this is likely to face stiff resistance from politicians. Whatever system is adopted, it will work only if mayors set aside their parochialism and willingly seek united approaches to their common problems. xxx Nothing wrong with this system, especially if the local executives are governing well. What’s wrong is if they feel they are not accountable to anyone beyond their constituency, and if they act as if they are independent of the rest of the nation. xxx But there must be a way of imbuing our local executives with a strong sense of belonging to a greater whole, and of accountability to a larger constituency. It can start with traffic management. Traffic, like the Pasig River, flows freely through several cities and municipalities. It is managed best through a coordinated approach among all the affected areas."
Posted on: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 22:56:40 +0000