Chairman Francis Tolentino of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), on Friday, threatened to put the mall operators name “in lights,” should they not cooperate in easing traffic jams during the holiday season.

In a traffic coordination meeting with mall administrative and security officials, Tolentino cited that the heavy traffic around the metropolis arise from the midnight sales.

“Let us help each other in speeding up the flow [of vehicles],” Tolentino said.

Saying that the agency is being blamed for the traffic, Tolentino said that they would now start naming the malls that causes heavy traffic flow on their LED signs seen along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or EDSA.

The MMDA signs are installed at the southbound lane of main avenue in Quezon City; northbound lane near the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City and southbound in front of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong Citys.

“With your permission, whoever would be the cause of traffic would now be put on the LED. Let’s do this so that we [MMDA] don’t get cussed all the time. Let’s start tonight [Friday] and see how the people will react,” he said.

The operators have not responded nor offered any solution during the meeting.

Further, Tolentino asked sale schedule of the malls as it the time that the establishments are visited by more customers.

Those who attended the meeting were the officials of Ayala Malls such as Trinoma and Landmark; Robinsons; Eastwood; Tiendisitas; Shangri-La and Lucky Mall.

Tolentino also ordered MMDA Traffic Discipline Director Yves Gonzales to “tweet” about SM’s absence on the agency’s Twitter account.

“SM, even with invitation, failed to attend the Traffic Coordination Meeting. Tweet this right now,” the MMDA chief told Gonzales. He said that the tweet would be instantly read by the agency’s more than 100,000 “followers.”

For their part, Rowena Tomeldan, vice president of Ayala Malls said that it is Tolentino’s prerogative if they want to announce the name of the malls that are causing traffic.

However, Tomeldan said that it is also part of their role to ensure traffic management.

“Part of our role is to make sure that traffic is eased aside from making sure that our malls are safe and secure,” the official said.