PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to fire “incompetent” officials in the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) over the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) mess.
In his speech late Wednesday, Duterte hit the TRB for allegedly allowing the cashless toll payment scheme to be implemented without conducting a trial run to ensure that there will be no glitches in the system.
“Ang problema ang mga regulator (The problem is that the regulators) is another set of incompetent people. They should not have allowed a system right now to be put in to use without trial.”
“One more fiasco, alis na kayo lahat (and you are all out),” he said.
“Palitan ko na lang lahat. Hindi ko matanggap yung incompetence (I will replace all. I cannot accept incompetence),” Duterte further said.
He also said it would be best for officials of TRB to resign rather than wait to be fired.
“If you cannot perform what is expected of you, then the best that you can do for decency sake, resign and do not wait to be fired.”
Duterte said if the TRB cannot do its job then Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade should look for a military man to clean up the mess over the RFID.
Meanwhile, Duterte said he understands Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian’s anger due to the traffic caused by the system.
“Pati ako magagalit talaga. I understand his burst of anger which is justified para matauhan kayo,” he said.
Gatchalian had ordered the suspension of the business permit of NLEX Corp. amid its supposed failure to address traffic caused by its faulty RFID system.