President Duterte blamed the officials of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) over the radio frequency identification (RFID) fiasco that caused traffic gridlocks in tollways.
“Hindi ko matanggap ‘yung incompetence ninyo. Kasi kami ang nasisisi and not only that, you [bring] hardships on the people,” Duterte said during his public address on Wednesday evening.
The chief executive said that the TRB should not have allowed the implementation of the cashless transaction scheme without a trial run period.
“Hindi ko masisi sila Ramon Ang… Ayala because meron tayong regulator. That’s the purpose of having a regulatory board. Meron tayong regulator, ang problema ang mga regulator is another set of incompetent people,” Duterte said.
“They should not have allowed the system right now to put into use without a trial run of about one week at titingnan nila and anticipate what would be the problem. That is the correct frame of mind,” he added.
Duterte later advised the officials to resign if they can’t handle the job properly.
“If you cannot perform what is expected of you, then the best that you can do for decency’s sake resign and do not wait to be fired because masakit ‘yan, mapahiya ka,” Duterte said.
“One more faux pas like that, another fiasco alis na kayong lahat,” he added.
The issue stemmed from the implementation of the RFID cashless payment scheme on expressways, which affected thousands of motorists especially on North Luzon Expressway.
