Gov’t official walks out of newspaper interview

MRT Train. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RAFFY LERMA

The Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) has been getting a lot of heat, more recently for the sorry state of mass transportation in Metro Manila, particularly the Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

Perhaps, hoping to have its own side heard out, DOTC officials led by its Secretary Joseph Abaya paid a visit to the office of a daily newspaper to engage its staff of reporters, editors and columnists in a lively discussion on this hot topic, among many other items.

Lively, things truly got. We heard from our own sources that there was some rather fierce questioning by the paper’s columnists who were, of course, only doing their jobs.

Abaya was apparently calm throughout, answering the items patiently.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for one of the government guests during the discussion. Saying the comments thrown at them were “foul,” this official took his things and stormed out of the room.

Dramatic, yes, but we could only imagine it was a tense situation over a complex problem that cannot be pinned on any single person or entity.

To help get its word out, we should also mention that it might be a good idea for the DOTC to hire a new spokesperson. There has been no replacement yet since last year’s departure of Michael Sagcal, who bravely served for several years. Is there anyone out there with the courage to take on this very noble task? Because other media outfits want to invite DOTC officials for question-and-answer sessions as well. And who knows how those will turn out? –Miguel R. Camus