EDITORIAL - New job for Roxas

He didn’t get a job in the nation’s seat of power, but former senator Mar Roxas has an equally challenging new role. By the end of the month, Roxas will be taking over from Jose de Jesus as secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications. In the previous administration, the DOTC became synonymous with scandals involving ZTE Corp. and the North Rail project. Roxas is taking over a department that is currently embroiled in a controversy at the Land Transportation Office.

The dispute in the LTO is on top of festering problems in the agency, notably the collusion of certain personnel with carjacking rings. Roxas will also face persistent problems in other DOTC offices. Whether by land, sea or air, the country’s transportation system is drastically in need of modernization. The nation is still stuck with inefficient and polluting jeepneys, ancient buses, pedicabs and even calesas. There is no modern railway system anywhere. Metro Manila’s overhead rail system needs to be expanded. You board an inter-island vessel at your own risk. And while the services of local airlines are satisfactory, the country’s premier airport has become a national embarrassment.

Roxas is taking over the DOTC as the principal players in the telecommunications industry are slugging it out. Mobile phone penetration has soared over the years, and competition drives the companies to continue innovating and improving their services. Roxas can focus on expanding Internet access. The country’s neighbors, aware of the usefulness of the Internet in the Information Age, have invested heavily in providing the necessary infrastructure, services and training to give their citizens Internet access.

Many of these projects require long-term planning and implementation. Along the way, Roxas must institutionalize transparency and accountability in all DOTC agencies, in keeping with the campaign promise of a straight path that won the presidency for his party’s standard-bearer last year. Roxas has his work cut out for him.