MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Manila Development Authority on Friday said it will soon launch its own Twitter account to foster faster exchange of information with the public.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino said the MMDA Twitter account will initially entertain traffic inquiries and will respond to other matters such as flooding situations as soon as further improvements are made. The account will be launched on Monday.

“Twitter is a good medium to directly communicate with the public. We intend to make full use of social networking and microblogging to deliver prompt and up-to-date traffic information to whoever needs it and at the same time receive feedback that are important to us in improving our services,” Tolentino said in a statement.

The MMDA’s Twitter services will initially be manned from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays, the MMDA chief said.

Tolentino said the use of Twitter is a giant technological leap for the MMDA, whose means of communication with the public relies heavily on Metrobase, its 24-hour traffic and communications center, and its own radio and cable TV channel.

MMDA spokesman Yves Gonzalez said the Twitter account underwent two-day public testing and proved successful in interacting with the public, particularly Twitter users. He said they have initially trained 2 three-man teams who will work in two shifts, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., to man the MMDA Twitter service round-the-clock.

“So far, the public has responded warmly. Even Undersecretary Manolo Quezon sent tweets promoting our Twitter account,” Gonzalez said, referring to columnist Manuel Quezon III, who is part of President Aquino’s Communications Group.

Gonzalez said the MMDA Twitter account will send periodic traffic updates concerning road closures, obstructions, traffic re-routing, and other important traffic-related developments.

“Through Twitter, we can help motorists and commuters plan their trips early by getting first-hand information on traffic condition in certain areas,” he added.

He said the MMDA will also open its Facebook account soon to improve the MMDA’s accessibility to the public.