Metro needs elected governor — Atienza

Does Metro Manila need an elected governor?

Well, if you were to ask Manila mayor-elect Lito Atienza, the answer is a resounding yes.

At the weekly Citio Fernandina forum yesterday, Atienza said that Metro Manila badly needs a metropolitan government under the helm of an elected governor as the present Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman lacks the needed mandate over the elected city and municipal mayors of the metropolis.

"You cannot expect him (MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando) to control all the local units with their local mayors," Atienza said. "Hindi mangyayari iyon. Walang mandate. How can you order elected officials kung ikaw ay appointed lang?

According to Atienza, the MMDA is "an anachronistic experiment that has failed to deliver."

"I’m sure the (MMDA) chairman is working hard, but the present system does not allow him to be effective. An appointed MMDA chairman cannot order elected officials," Atienza said.

He explained there are certain needs of a metropolitan area that requires metropolitan approach.

"Kaya kailangan magkaroon tayo ng metropolitan government. Ang MMDA ay isang anachronistic institution. It was created as an experiment in 1975 as the Metro Manila Commission. Twenty eight years have passed, the experiment should have been judged. It is time that we end this experiment and establish a more permanent structure for Metro Manila to have effective development," the Manila mayor said.

Atienza said the metropolitan governor and the members of the metropolitan assembly will have to be elected in order to institutionalized them as members of a provincial or a regional government duly mandated by the electorate.

"We need to elect a governor and a metropolitan assembly. These will be men and women who will have direct mandate from the communities unlike the appointed MMDA chairman," he said.

Atienza said he will solicit the assistance of the newly-elected Manila congressmen to help pass the needed legislation in Congress that would finally allow for the creation of the metropolitan government and amend the law creating the MMDA.

Atienza also expressed confidence that other city and municipal mayors of Metro Manila will agree with his proposal.

"We will take advantage of the new Congress. We can ask the assistance of Manila congressmen to amend the law. The other mayors are also thinking about this (creation of a metropolitan government). I believe a great majority of them agree with this," Atienza said.

Fernando brushed off yesterday calls by Atienza to have his agency abolished.

"E, baka pag nag-comment ako, maging self-serving lang," Fernando said in an interview.

The MMDA chief said he has not checked yet what the grounds were for the mayor’s proposal.

"Who knows, he might have a valid reason," he said.