MMDA: Gabriel Go only barred from clearing ops after teacher-shaming complaint
MANILA, Philippines — The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) did not suspend its official, Gabriel Go, but only barred him from participating in the clearing operations of the Special Operations Group following another shaming incident.
“Bagama’t hindi siya suspendido sa trabaho, sinuspend muna natin ‘yung clearing ops niya,” MMDA Chairman Romando Artes said on Thursday, July 16.
(While we did not suspend him at work, we have suspended his clearing operations.)
Go is again under investigation and was ordered to explain within 24 hours following a complaint from the Teachers' Dignity Coalition over a video he posted on his personal Facebook page on July 14.
In the video, he was seen scolding a teacher in uniform who was caught driving a motorcycle without a helmet.
“Teacher ka tapos wala kang helmet? Paano naman natin tuturuan ang ating mga estudyante kung ganoon?” Go said to the teacher, whose face was blurred in the video.
(You’re a teacher and you don’t have a helmet. How can we teach our students in that case?)
The teacher apologized to Go and asked not to be filmed, but Go insisted on recording him.
“Dapat inisip niyo ‘yan bago kayo gumawa ng mali,” Go told the teacher.
(You should have thought of that before you did something wrong.)
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition agreed that the teacher in the video committed traffic violations and should be held accountable, but it also objected to Go's berating.
Since it was posted, the video has garnered thousands of views and reactions.
This is not the first time Go has faced a complaint related to shaming. He also faced a similar complaint last year after he was caught on video publicly shaming a police officer for illegally parking a motorcycle.
After that incident, Go was ordered to issue a public apology to the police officer involved.
Despite the apology, a cyber libel charge was still filed against Go.
He remained in his position after the incident but was ordered to undergo anger management training.
The 2025 shaming incident also prompted the MMDA to ban personal vlogging during its operations and require that only the agency post photos or videos on its official social media pages.
However, Artes appeared to contradict that policy on Thursday, saying they had previously agreed that Go could post content on his personal social media accounts.
(We had already agreed on this before—that we would first post videos on our official social media pages, and then he could post the same activity on his personal social media accounts afterward.)
“Napag-usapan namin ‘yan before pa na magpo-post kami ng video sa social media pages namin, then pwede rin siyang mag-post after naming mag-post ng activity sa aming official social media page,” Artes said.
(We had already agreed on this before—that we would first post videos on our official social media pages, and then he [Go] could post the same activity on his personal social media accounts afterward.)
Artes also said videos posted on social media must not contain demeaning remarks and should comply with guidelines, including the Data Privacy Act.
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