EDSA-sy does it: Vince rolls into action

Our transport system may be “in really bad shape,” as he so readily admitted in yesterday’s TribuneNOW interview, but Department of Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon certainly is not.

The man had barely warmed the seat vacated by former Secretary Jaime Bautista, who stepped down due to health reasons, yet he was up and running, familiarizing himself with the “beat,” as we say in journalese.

“When I started my stint as Department of Transportation secretary, I really tried my best to understand and really feel the daily plight of our commuters,” he said, experiencing “firsthand” a commuter’s travails — long queues and lost time at the top of the list.

Boosted by this knowledge, he is determined to fulfill the President’s mandate to rebuild EDSA before the end of his term.

With years of public service under his belt and a reputation for getting the job done, Sec. Dizon may just be the man for the job.

Active by nature — we are told he is an avid biker who sometimes pedals his way to Baguio when he has the time — Secretary Vince brings a wave of energy wherever he goes.

For this interview, he arrived early, smartly clad in a pink shirt, sleeves casually rolled up his arms, and black trousers, his signature glasses failing to mask the big smile that lit up his eyes when he entered the room.

“Are you ready for EDSA?” we asked as soon as he sat down.

“No one can be ever truly ready,” he said, “but it has to be done…” and thus began a lively conversation with a roomful of inquisitive journos, Dizon holding court with ease, clearly knowledgeable and amped not by the large coffee he was carrying around, but by his own determination to free the commuting populace from their “kalbaryo.”

Not one to waste time, Secretary Dizon spends the daily two-hour drive (each way) between his home in Pampanga to Manila doing emails, giving instructions, and sometimes getting some much-needed sleep. And if the government’s plan to rebuild Edsa comes to fruition, it will surely give back to our countrymen the time they lose in the daily transport grind.