Almost every motorist and pedestrian traveling daily within Metro Manila knows how bad the traffic situation is now along major thoroughfares and major roads in the metropolis. I agree with the Management Association of the Philippines, which earlier suggested the designation of a czar to oversee the “traffic crisis” here in the National Capital Region.

I cannot imagine a government official rejecting a proposal to have a traffic czar in Metro Manila that would somehow solve the huge problem that the government is facing right now, particularly here in the Metro Manila area.

I was shocked that the official categorically said, “There’s NO need to appoint a traffic czar for Metro Manila.”

Hello, sir. I beg to disagree with you, and I would gladly come to your office to discuss this further. I don’t buy the idea that transportation agencies continuously conduct studies to alleviate the never-ending traffic problem in Metro Manila. And let me remind you, Mr. government official, that we have Republic Act 7924 prevailing and still in effect here in the National Capital Region.

My friends and acquaintances would affirm that on several occasions, I have said that to solve the perennial problem of heavy vehicular and disorderly pedestrian traffic here in the various cities and municipalities of Metro Manila for President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. (through First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos) to appoint a traffic czar for Metro Manila. A person who knows very well how to manage traffic operations and how to enforce all the existing traffic laws, rules, and regulations as well as local ordinances within the National Capital Region, in other words, somebody (not necessarily a retired general or retired colonel) but who was once with the Traffic Enforcement Group, National Capital Region Police Office and the Traffic Operations Center of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. Need a clue? Private message is the key.

A traffic czar does not only sit in the office but goes out in the streets conducting traffic direction and control, assessing and analyzing traffic conditions, issuing traffic citation tickets to violators, whether a motorist or a pedestrian, and monitoring his men and women in the traffic sector.

My greetings to the Most Reverend Nolly Buco JCD DD, as the new Judicial Vicar of the National Tribunal of Appeals. Known as the “Instructor Delegate,” he will also oversee the cases of priests handled by the CBCP Office of Dispensation and Dismissal. Bishop Buco, the Apostolic Administrator of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Catarman, will continue to serve as the Judicial Vicar in the Antipolo Diocese. Also, our thanks to Bishop Emmanuel C Trance DD for the Decree elevating the canonical status of the Secular Oblates of the Holy Family (OHF) as a Public Association of the Faithful at the Diocesan Level under the leadership of our Animator (Superior), the Very Reverend James Phillip Monserate, OHF MA.

Likewise, Father Napoleon Sipalay Jr OP was a Filipino Dominican whom the Holy Father appointed as the new bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Alaminos, Pangasinan. Father Sipalay, a native of Davao, served as the Prior Provincial of the Dominican Philippine Province from 2016 to 2021, which runs UST, the oldest existing university in Asia. Father Sipalay is the outgoing vice-rector of the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary, a Royal, Pontifical inter-diocesan seminary where most of our bishops and good priests have studied. Modesty aside, I haven’t heard anything negative about UST products like the Very Reverend James Phillip Monserate, OHF MA, my animator/superior at Oblates of the Holy Family.