Take the case of the MMDA’s current traffic management programs. Some of the alleged improvements Fernando has done have actually proven fatal. Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares are filled with traps for motorists masquerading as U-turn slots. Those concrete barriers Fernando arbitrarily puts for his U-turn slots without adequately informing the public who can hardly see them at night have already killed and maimed a lot of people. Most government functionaries would think twice if something they do results in death and serious injury but not Fernando.

On paper, these "improvements" are supposed to speed up travel time by eliminating traffic signal stops. But once congestion builds up, these only impede traffic flow as motorists end up having fewer lanes to work with. Besides, the proliferation of U-turn slots is a tacit admission that the MMDA does not know how to use Metro Manila’s traffic signal system, which is supposedly under its control. And, to think that the government even had to borrow money overseas just to have the traffic signal system installed.

In utter disregard for the findings of Metro Manila Urban Transport Integration Study (MMUTIS), Fernando also asked and received money from the Office of the President and attempted to build two central bus terminals. One along EDSA near SM City in Quezon City to serve north-bound provincial buses and another along the South Super Highway in Makati to serve those going to the south.

According to the MMUTIS, the proposed central bus terminals are meant to eliminate the added traffic congestion resulting from the activities of provincial buses, particularly along EDSA. That is why the study strongly recommended putting up the southern central bus terminal inside the Food Terminal Inc., complex in Taguig City. But the study bogged down in recommending a suitable site for the northern counterpart for lack of an appropriate location.

The MMUTIS is the product of the collective thinking of various government agencies with the help of foreign experts involved in traffic management. But, in one quick stroke, Fernando saw it convenient to substitute his own ideas for the collective wisdom and arbitrarily selected the new sites, which are already traffic hot spots to begin with, without the benefit of public consultation. One can only wonder what prompted Fernando, a big-time contractor before entering public service, to choose a site adjacent to a mall complex to build a central bus terminal whose purpose is to decongest traffic. It is a good thing that Makati City objected to Fernando’s idea inside its jurisdiction.

In the field of solid waste disposal, Fernando has fared no better. All the money Fernando asked and got to develop the Rodriguez sanitary landfill has gone to waste. The site has become mired in political controversy and that is partly the MMDA’s fault. There was inadequate social preparation of the host site. Consequently, just how much of Metro Manila’s garbage is illegally dumped in its surrounding environs is anyone’s guess. Remember that the next time around you hear Fernando or the MMDA professing to protect the environment or even espousing the need for public discipline.

It is the desire of every high-ranking government official to leave some sort of legacy behind to mark his tenure in office. That is normal but it only happens if our high-ranking public servant actually excels in what he or she does. Unwittingly, Fernando’s only legacy as MMDA chairman may be those thousand-strong pink public urinals, which reportedly cost P70,000 each to install. If the information is correct, that is one very expensive set of piss pots to remember Fernando by when his time as MMDA chairman is up. But if it is any consolation to us, at least, those pink urinals were brand new when the MMDA got them.