Make things happen

Egay Uy

THE Roads and Traffic Administration must undergo a major reorganization.  As it is, the department has a weak structure such that most of the authority exercised by most employees is drawn from mere designations.  This is the result of the absence of a good departmental structure.

The reorganization process was actually started years back but was done on per-group basis.  As may be recalled, the education group underwent a major facelift with the production of training modules that now serve as the basis in conducting various trainings and seminars.  The group was also expanded as to the number and capability of lecturers.  This is far from perfect but things are moving as envisioned.

The administration group was also beefed up with the designation of capable employees that filled the gap caused by the inability of the former group head to deliver results.  Now, responsibilities pertaining to recruitment and the hiring process, procurement, materials control, attendance monitoring, budget monitoring, and even office maintenance have been clearly drawn.  Gradually, the old guns are coping with the changes.

With the addition of 200 more traffic enforcers and office personnel, the law enforcement group has to undergo a major facelift. This is the biggest group in the entire organization with some 70 percent of the total manpower being tucked in to this group.

Time was when the group could be supervised by a single person orchestrating the moves of then 100 or so field personnel. This has ceased to be so.  The traffic condition in the city and the number of personnel on the road requires more outside-the-box thinking.

Area leaders from among the capable breed of traffic enforcers were selected and tasked to oversee traffic enforcers in designated areas of responsibility.  Despite the low pay, some delivered results while some others still need more honing.  But improvements are noticeable.

It is difficult to press people for better performance given the low pay that a great majority of the RTA personnel receive for the hard work that they do.  So we had to adopt measures to augment their income through employee awards.  And, the sharing law revival will also help.

The RTA has adopted our proposal to already divide the city into districts or sectors.  For now, there are three sectors throughout the city.  Each sector is headed by a sector head.  He will have one assistant.  The sector heads will act as the chief of operation in their respective sectors.  Both the heads and their assistants will also double as motorcycleiding response personnel.

Managing the law enforcement group will therefore become easier because of the sector heads, assistant sector heads and the area team leaders.  What is needed now is for somebody to coordinate the efforts of all the sectors.  A sector coordinator will soon join the RTA to synchronize all programs of each sector and to provide the supervisory inputs to make the law enforcement group more effective and responsive to the current needs.

I have challenged the RTA organics that since they get to stay in, and run, the department long after we will have been moved out for whatever reason, they have to appreciate the rationale of the programs being introduced to the organization.

By then, the department may no longer even need an overseer to run it.  All it takes is for the organics to make things happen.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer and chairman of the city’s Task Force Hapsay Dalan.)