Cheap publicity stunt

Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino should stop trying hard and engaging in cheap publicity stunts such as directing traffic himself—with media present, of course. A radio station monitored him directing traffic in at least two busy thoroughfares on Wednesday.   

      

Everyone knows that Tolentino is angling for a slot in the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party. And what better way to please his boss, President Aquino, and gain tremendous media mileage, than by being seen directing traffic.   

      

The problem is that Tolentino is the head of the agency that's supposed to untangle Metro Manila's horrible traffic jams. And he has an army of traffic constables at his beck and call. What he should be doing as chairman of the agency is to craft policies and programs and supervise their implementation through his subordinates.

      

So, to be photographed directing traffic along busy Katipunan and later near SM Megamall appears to be part of his effort to gain maximum political exposure in the run-up to 2016.

      

How else explain his increased presence in various parts of the country delivering speeches and on one occasion, even bringing an MMDA vehicle with him to faraway Bicol, an area which is not within his geographical jurisdiction?

      

Politicians will do anything to call attention to themselves and Tolentino is no exception.

      

It's our singular misfortune that as Metro Manila residents, the one person who should be spearheading efforts to rid the metropolis of traffic, floods and garbage, among others, is too busy doing other things, such as getting  himself elected to higher political office.

      

By the way, who's paying for his TV ads running on primetime that costs no less than half a million pesos for a 30-seconder? –End-

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