Dynamo

FIRST PERSON - He assumed the post burdened with high expectations. He has not disappointed—so far.

- ALEX MAGNO

Vince Dizon gained national prominence while the pandemic raged. He was pulled from his duties at the BCDA (where he delivered an Olympics-standard sports facility under time pressure) to help oversee government's response to the scourge. He put together a procurement and logistics system in the midst of a nationwide lockdown that somehow worked.

When Jimmy Bautista resigned his post, wearied by the job, Vince Dizon was recalled from the private sector to handle the Department of Transportation (DOTr). The agency was plagued with every imaginable challenge. Leading it should daunt even the most competent manager.

The DOTr deals with airports that are way below international standards, land transport agencies that could not even deliver license plates to motorists, an expensive subway system bogged down by right-of-way issues, a jeepney modernization program that continues to be resisted, a rail system that has been delayed by decades and so on and so forth. In every one of them, the issues are complex and solutions are not simple.

Two months into the job, Vince Dizon impresses us. Against the backdrop of a largely lackadaisical Cabinet that appears to be more concerned about public relations than with delivering lasting results, the DOTr secretary stands out.