BUILDING a Metro Manila with safe, clean and accessible streets and waterways.
That is the goal of 32-year-old urban planner Julia Nebrija when asked what she want to achieve as assistant general manager for Operations of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
Nebrija said she is optimistic that her dream to have a beautiful Manila is doable, saying Metro Manila has the ingredients to be something of a leading a mega-city in the world.
“We have talent. We have heart. We have family and that sustains us through a lot our hardships but it also helps us find solutions that really help us to see the potential.”
“That is what I want to get to in the next six years. That everyone can see beautiful streets and waterways because those are the common places. No matter where you live in Metro Manila or where you work, you have to go on the street every single day.”
“We have our LGUs responsible for their jurisdiction. MMDA is responsible for making sure that all the national policies are implemented in a way in a local level that works on metropolitan level. We’re no longer individuals cities we have to operate as a metropolitan region,” she said.
“What I want to do specifically is coming up with a long-term strategy to have safe, clean and accessible streets and waterways. Most people are coming here for opportunities and I think the development of Metro Manila is also the development of a nation,” she said.
But having a program like that is not an easy task, according to Julia. “We have so many divisions. So, we are linking them under a common vision in meeting our targets and measure our impact over the next six years.”
With a masters degree in urban planning and design with six years of professional consulting experience in metropolitan development with specialties in sustainable transportation and urban revitalization, Nebrija said, she really see herself in the service to Metro Manila.
On August 19, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Nebrija as AGM for Operations along with Thomas Orbos as general manager of the MMDA.
Nebrija is a summa cum laude in international affairs from the George Washington University in 2006. She is also a master of arts in urban design from the City Colleges of New York in 2011.
She described herself as an idealistic and energetic woman.
“Just today, I was in the planning office in Marikina introducing myself to staff there and the planning chief told me that I was kind of hyper, and I think my staff here is always chasing me around. I have a lot of energy and I really look on others and I love to be personable.”
“I was a consultant and a freelance before and I am thinking that is very difficult to come to one office everyday, but actually I really enjoyed that so many different resources and expertise is housed in the same building. You can mobilize a lot of resources very quickly.”
Making a plan of a city changes is challenging, she said.
“Every single day, unexpected, unpredictable and being on call 24/7 to solve anything that may happen is definitely challenging. Something is happening in Caloocan, Muntinlupa and Quezon City at the same time and you try to figure out how can you solve those things.”
“I think it is very good in MMDA that we have a good network to all of these cities. We have district offices, people who were knowledgeable to be able to dispatch and that’s a very big asset in an organization like ours.”
Prior to her appointment, Nebrija was a consultant of the agency from February to June and she helped in developing a roadmap for the 2016 Road Sharing Budget and creating a long-term transportation strategy connecting Metro Manila and making alternative transportation a viable option.
Before the MMDA, Nebrija was an urban specialist of the World Bank in the Philippines for more than six years, doing research on metropolitan and transportation governance.
“I worked with the MMDA before as consultant both with the World Bank and so I’m pretty familiar with the agency and I think the agency has a bigger role in leading the development in Metro Manila,” she said.
“I think being collaborative and being creative is my strength. So, my strength I believe is more on being able to collaborate which is very important. But there are a lot of things I want to learn in the agency. There’s a lot that has to be done and I still learning those.”
From March to June this year, Nebrija was also a consultant of the Intramuros Administration tasked with crafting and revising policies related to urban revitalization in Walled City. “My responsibilities include implementing art and cultural programming,” said Nebrija, a co-founder and executive director of Viva Manila, an organization with a mission to revitalize Manila through arts and culture.
“My management style, I guess, a little bit of micromanaging. I follow up a lot of things and I constantly texting, calling, emailing and making sure that things are moving forward. I like specific task being assigned to specific people and some people,” said Nebrija.
“One accomplishment I had last year was I was able to bike all the 17 [local government units] in Metro Manila. That was very interesting I spent almost two weeks just biking around to see Metro Manila, try to understand it better and I think that was very eye opening experience for me,” she said.
“I am also very proud being part of the Inclusive Mobility Advocacy, a lot of passionate and advocates working for decades to bring more attention to the needs of people who walk, bike, who commute, persons with disabilities who can’t use our public transport system. I am very happy to have been to still to be a part of that movement and make sure that what were doing considers the needs of all users not just cars.”
“[But] I think one of my biggest accomplishments is being able to build my life here,” she said.