Senator Gatchalian says RFID mess fault of TRB management

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, elder brother of Valenzuela City Mayor, Rex Gatchalian, said on Monday that the Toll Regulatory Board’s (TRB) executive director should be axed and replaced with a more qualified leader, amid the RFID fiasco.

"If you ask me, it’s better to just get a qualified executive director because [and] I’m sorry to say this, the executive director is not doing his job. This [RFID fiasco] could be avoided if he has been on his toes, monitoring, and making sure the operators performing up to the standard," said Senator Gatchalian.

The TRB is supposed to be regulating and supervising the toll operators as its mandate, Sen. Gatchalian added. So that the public gets the best possible service from these operators. However, that seemed not to be the case.

"TRB has the mandate to supervise as well as to regulate and to assure the public that the best possible service that the toll operators can deliver should be experienced by our motorists."

The Senate will convene on Thursday to review the concession agreements between the government and the toll operators. Under these agreements are certain requirements that toll operators should meet in order to keep operating the tollways, said Senator Gatchalian. If there have been any discrepancies, the government can take over or revoke the privilege given to these private toll operators.

"The government owns the highway, the concessionaire or the operators were given the privilege to expand, operate, and maintain but they have certain minimum requirements in order for the public to experience better infrastructure," said Senator Gatchalian.

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