All eyes are on the Traffic Summit today!

I learned from our The FREEMAN reports that 14 traffic managers from different local government units (LGUs) in Metro Cebu will convene today for a Traffic Management Summit that aims to address the worsening traffic conditions in Metro Cebu. As the report goes, Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III expects these traffic managers to come up with a proposed, uniformed traffic rules for Metro Cebu. I just hope that these traffic managers have some basic training on how to manage traffic otherwise they would end up like the proverbial blind, leading the blind.

On the bright side, I'm just glad that the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB) is spearheading the event that will be participated by 70 traffic managers and stakeholders. I gathered that this Traffic Summit was triggered by the so-called "Carmageddon" a few months ago that happened in Minglanilla.

Perhaps the problem is one of political will that unfortunately our local mayors do not possess. For instance, there is a law that doesn't allow tricycle on our national roads. Yet since time immemorial, these tricycles defy these traffic rules with impunity and our LGUs or traffic managers seem helpless to enforce traffic rules. In my book, it is pointless to continue with the Traffic Summit if our traffic managers allow traffic violators to rule our streets.

Lest they have forgotten, all of us only have a privilege granted by the state to drive on our streets and that privilege may be revoked or cancelled by mere violation of our traffic laws. Another issue they should address is about mourners walking behind a funeral cortege. Everyone agrees that this is a major cause of traffic congestion. So once again, this needs political will. At this point, I wish these traffic managers all the success in their endeavor and wait with bated breath what these folks can come up with.

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Yesterday, the Philippine Star headlined the news that Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte fired Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo at the end of the 25th Cabinet meeting at Malacañang late Monday night after he had a one-on-one talk with her about the P60 million in advertisements that her department placed in the TV program of her brothers, Ben and Erwin Tulfo and broadcaster Alex Santos.

Earlier, Teo told the media that she wasn't resigning, but her husband, Roberto, was resigning as director of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), which is under the DOT. Honestly, I didn't know that her husband was a director in TIEZA. That her husband was under the DOT, Sec. Teo should have sent red flags already. I honestly don't know why Malacañang allowed this ugly situation because they become a husband and wife team in one government agency.

It is so unfortunate that the Tulfo brothers who supported the Presidential campaign of Duterte ended up in this scandalous affair. As journalists, they should have been wary of accepting monies that emanated from the very government agency headed by their sister. Sure, Sec. Teo may not be privy to these promos because the DOT is a huge agency, but if someone told her that this was happening, the least she could have done was to have it stopped immediately.

So there we go again, in search for a Tourism secretary, which is not an easy task. Meanwhile, as the news report said, Sec. Teo's spokesman,Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, said that BITAG Media Unlimited Inc. (BMUI), of which Ben Tulfo is chief executive officer and founder, is returning the P60 million paid by DOT for its advertisements on BMUI's Kilos Pronto magazine show over PTV-4. Now that is very noble of Ben Tulfo. However prudence should have dictated that he should have turned down these monies as it comes from the agency headed by his sister. So it's too late for that now.

Topacio also pointed out that Sec. Teo was leading an internal investigation in the DOT to determine who is responsible for this incident and that if she had known that the P60-millionadvertisementtheDOThadplacedwithPTV-4would be aired on Kilos Pronto, she would have stopped the deal. I can understand that Topacio is trying to go into damage control. But in the end, Sec. Teo should have done what she needed to do. But, like I said, it's just too late in the hour for all this now that the President has removed her from the DOT.