INCOMING President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has not, as of this writing, nominated someone to head the Department of Transportation (DoTr), and that unfilled gap in the executive roster — along with energy, environment, health, foreign affairs and agriculture (Yes, I know he announced he'd take care of the latter himself, but come on. Seriously?) — is causing increasing alarm as his inauguration rapidly approaches.

The new administration's evident recruitment difficulties notwithstanding, whoever takes the helm at the DoTr will be in an uncomfortable spotlight because the outgoing Duterte administration is leaving him or her with quite a mess to clean up. There are a couple of promising rail developments ongoing, and that's good, but the immediate and most visible problem is the disastrous state of intra-city transit in and around Metro Manila. Addressing it immediately and effectively is critical, and it is perhaps the high penalty for failure that task carries that is keeping potential candidates for Transportation secretary from agreeing to take on the job.