MMDA traffic czar quits

MANILA, Philippines - Yves Gonzalez, the tech-savvy head of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)'s Traffic Discipline Office (TDO) has resigned from his post effective  May 30.

Gonzalez will be replaced by retired police official Francisco Manalo as head of the MMDA's TDO. Gonzalez is reportedly moving to the private sector.

Manalo formerly served as director of the Eastern Police District and is the current Edsa Traffic and Transport Zone director.

Gonzalez made the MMDA tech savvy by helping introduce the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook in creating interaction between the TDO, the MMDA's Metrobase and motorists. He also helped in the creation of the MMDA website.

Gonzalez entered the MMDA as the agency's information technology manager and later briefly served as MMDA spokesman before being appointed by MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino as the TDO chief.

Since 2010, he has headed the team running the Twitter account @MMDA and other projects like traffic-related applications for iPhone and other smartphones.

Gonzales thanked Tolentino for his trust and support in the TDO under his watch.

“I am thankful to Chairman Francis Tolentino for his trust and support these past three years. It is an honor to have been given the opportunity to serve the public as Metro Manila's traffic director, helping to bring positive changes to our metropolis through the MMDA,” he said in Twitter.

"It has been an honor serving as your traffic director. The past three years, I did the best I could with the resources that we had and I hope I made a difference, no matter how small.," he said.

He added that he hope he would be able to  leave things better than when he found them. - Mike Frialde