Usec. De Leon is DOTr’s Visayas representative

Presidential Assistant to the Visayas, Secretary Michael Dino, meets with new DOTr representative of the Visayas, Undersecretary Mark De Leon. | Contributed photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) named a new representative for the Visayas to streamline projects for the region.

Undersecretary Mark Richmund de Leon, DOTr officer-in-charge, was named as the representative of the Visayas by DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade.

There will now be two representatives of Visayas for DOTr including Eymard Eje, Assistant Secretary for Rails and Project Implementation-Mindanao, who serves as the alternative representative.

DOTr Secretary Tugade tasked the two to be the DOTr representatives during the Regional Development Committee (RDC) of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) in Visayas regions.

“The designated permanent representative is tasked to attend the NEDA-Regional Development Committee (NEDA-RDC) meetings and other coordination meetings for the effective and efficient implementation of projects involving the participation of the DOTr,” the letter of Secretary Tugade read.

Presidential Assistant to the Visayas, Michael Lloyd Dino, welcomed the new representative, saying that this move of the DOTr showed that the agency was serious in implementing and expediting DOTr projects in the Visayas.

“We welcome both Usec. De Leon and Asec. Eje in the Visayas. Both are highly competent and hardworking, (and) that can help us here in the Visayas,” Secretary Dino added.

Read more: Neda-ICC okays BRT but as part of MCIITS

Dino said that with more representation to the national agency, this would expedite the Integrated Inter-Modal Transport System (IITS) in Cebu, which would include a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that would serve as feeder system to the backbone monorail transport system in Cebu.

Dino said that there would be new alignments for the project to address the riding needs of the public, and promised that there would be at least two lanes per direction for private vehicles together with the planned transport systems.

This new development was agreed upon by the consultants of DOTr in their recent meetings this time with the input of De Leon and Eje./dbs