UAE | General
MMDA chief shrugs off threats
Nowadays, engineer Bayani Fernando never goes out without at least six bodyguards. Hardly a day goes by without protesters blocking his path to his office in Makati City, denouncing his high-handed style in implementing policies.
- From Gilbert Felongco
- Published: 00:00 October 16, 2002
Nowadays, engineer Bayani Fernando never goes out without at least six bodyguards. Hardly a day goes by without protesters blocking his path to his office in Makati City, denouncing his high-handed style in implementing policies.
As the man in charge of ridding the capital streets of illegal vendors, informal settlers and traffic obstructions, among others, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman has endured more than his fair share of criticism and death threats – even from communist rebels.
When he started his new career at the helm of the authority three months ago, the three-term former mayor of Manila's suburban Marikina City set out on a mission to clear the sidewalks of Metro Manila of all types of obstructions, including illegal vendors.
By MMDA estimates, there are at least 250,000 illegal vendors in Metro Manila, selling anything from fruits and vegetables to bric-a-brac from China, who clog the streets and deny their use to motorists and pedestrians.
For years, they had continued to defy the law and had used their poverty as an excuse to stake their claim on the capital's streets. Then Fernando arrived to liberate the streets for the tax payers.
He had used similar tactics in improving Marikina City, earning three awards for the suburb as most developed city in Metro Manila.
He went around the metropolis with his MMDA demolition crew, wrecking illegal stalls and warning vendors that he would douse their wares with paraffin if they returned to the streets.
This programme has sparked a lot of controversy as militant groups and several politicians have rallied behind the sidewalk vendors.
"Bayani Fernando was going beyond his job as chairman of the development authority. He was playing his role to the hilt as dictator-butcher and covered all powers bestowed on elected officials like congressmen and mayors," claimed the leftist National Movement of Fisherfolk.
But even as he earned the ire of illegal vendors, he also reaped praise from admirers.
"He has the fire in the belly. He exudes passion in his declared resolve to tackle the mega city's problems. MMDA's demonstrable failure in the past, after so many years since its creation, has condemned the city's inhabitants to low and still declining quality of life," said former press secretary Ricardo Puno.
His no-nonsense approach to the problem, which politicians in the past have clearly avoided for fear of antagonising a considerable base of political support, has dramatically reduced vehicular traffic in the metropolis and created cleaner streets for pedestrians.
Recently, the demolitions resulted in the death of one illegal vendor who was shot by police after he tried to shoot one of the members of the wrecking crew.
As a result of the killing, the communist New People's Army put Fernando on their death list.
And, although he will not admit it, Fernando takes the risks of his job very seriously. One of the first things he did was to bring in his own security team, made up of at least six of his trusted Marikina City policemen who accompany him on all his trips around the metropolis.
None of the previous MMDA chairmen have been this cautious, but none of them has also been this bold in tackling the problem of illegal vendors head on.
As an added precaution, Fernando has also dressed up some of the policemen in the native business shirt, the "barong", and dark pants, identical to his own attire.
At least two or three of these Fernando clones move around with him to prevent a direct attack on the MMDA chief. The precautionary measures extend to his family, particularly his only daughter who has a bodyguard accompanying her wherever she goes.
Fernando said security measures were also implemented when he was still mayor of Marikina City.
Fernando often jokes that one of these days someone might come up to him or his daughter and douse them with paraffin just as he threatened to do to the goods of the sidewalk vendors.
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