MMDA to convert bankrupt hotel to academy

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will convert a bankrupt workers' inn in Tondo, Manila into a learning academy to develop the skills of MMDA employees. MMDA said the "PGMA Workers' Inn 2" along Abad Santos Street in Tondo had been experiencing low guest turnout lately and will thus be converted into a learning facility. "Since the hotel has been experiencing a low turnout of clients, it will be converted into a finishing academy that would house a section devoted to driver education, another floor for the enhancement of MMDA traffic enforcers’ skills and the third floor as a school for strategic urban transport," it said. Renovated by MMDA in 2008, the hotel has 717 capsule beds that can accommodate 1,434 guests in two shifts per day. Under the proposed setup, the school for urban transport will be open to educational institutions that offer courses in urban planning and development, such as the University of the Philippines in Diliman. “The MMDA is embarking on a new era of service to Metro Manila. The MMDA Academy would hopefully institutionalize and help achieve that objective," said MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino. He added he wants the MMDA acronym to stand for “Marangal, Matapat, at Disiplinado Ako (I am honorable, honest and disciplined)." –VVP, GMANews.TV