An Uncoordinated Bureaucracy: The Tale of MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando and The Metropolitan Manila Mayors

Abstract

Catering to the needs of a continuously growing metropolis demanding for more efficient, adequate and well-coordinated services as well as arresting the concomitant effects of a developing urban landscape are by no means an easy task. And ignoring the existence of such realities would prove to be high stakes gamble lest we be reminded of our harrowing past - when city administrators overlooked the debilitating effects of rapid urban growth and failed to see the importance of coordinated action, which have led to the squalor and decay of the city. A departure from the once fragmented approach to the governance of Manila and its contiguous cities was set in motion upon the creation of Metro Manila Commission in 1975, which was then followed by the Metro Manila Authority in 1990, until finally the Metro Manila Development Authority which broke ground in 1995.