DOTr overhaul looms

Ahead of dizon’s entry

MANILA, Philippines — An overhaul is looming among the ranking officials of the Department of Transportation (DOTr), as the appointment of a new secretary means old heads will be gone and new names are coming in.

Sources privy to the matter told The STAR that all undersecretaries of the DOTr are vacating their post to give the incoming chief a free hand in choosing his subordinates.

This means that transport veterans like Roberto Lim for aviation, Elmer Sarmiento for maritime and Jesus Ferdinand Ortega for road are all going out together with Jaime Bautista.

A source said only Timothy John Batan will be maintained among Bautista’s undersecretaries for his institutional memory of the DOTr’s projects. However, it seems that Batan will be reassigned to the railway sector as officer-in-charge in place of Jeremy Regino.

Sources said Regino resigned from his role in January ahead of the news that Bautista was leaving as transport chief. One of the challenges faced by the Bautista leadership was picking up speed for some of the large-scale railways pursued by the government.

For one, the DOTr has yet to award the remaining three segments of the P488.48-billion Metro Manila Subway Project. Right of way delays are also slowing down the construction pace of the P873.62-billion North-South Commuter Railway.

Still in the rail sector, the DOTr has yet to find new financiers for the projects dropped by China, such as the Philippine National Railways South Long Haul and the Mindanao Railway Project.

Among attached agencies in the railway group, sources said there may be changes as well in the Philippine National Railways and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

In aviation and maritime, sources also said there is a strong likelihood that new heads will be appointed for the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and the Maritime Industry Authority, and that a former broadcaster could be named in charge of commuter affairs.

Moreover, a revamp may be rolling in at the Office for Transportation Security and the Office for Transportation Cooperatives. The STAR learned that the new DOTr leadership has been asked to accelerate the Public Transport Modernization Program, which involves the OTC.

Last week, Malacañang announced the appointment of Vince Dizon as new secretary of the DOTr in place of Bautista, who resigned to focus on his health.

Bautista is given until Feb. 21 to serve as transport secretary. The STAR learned that he will turn over the key to the agency to Dizon on Feb. 24.

Dizon’s appointment in the DOTr has been welcomed by experts and legislators, as they look forward to what he brings as former head of the Bases Conversion and Develeopment Authority (BCDA).

Think tank Infrawatch PH believes that assigning Dizon as the new secretary of the DOTr brings agility and dynamism to an agency handling multiple priority projects. Infrawatch PH convenor Terry Ridon also said Dizon fits the role given his background in the BCDA.

“Dizon provides the agility and dynamism of youth to the transportation department, which had been unfortunately absent in the previous leadership. Dizon also provides broad experience in the infrastructure sector, serving as the BCDA chief and presidential flagship projects adviser in the previous government,” Ridon told The STAR.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia Philippines is also excited by the reforms that Dizon would push for in the aviation industry.

During his BCDA tenure, one of Dizon’s priorities was to complete the new terminal building for the Clark International Airport in preparation for future demand.

Legislators like Senator Grace Poe and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda also hailed the hiring of Dizon in the Marcos administration, confident he would accelerate the progress for some of the projects stalled in the outgoing leadership.