Las Piñas mayor to village heads: Clear roads or else

MANILA, Philippines — Las Piñas Mayor Imelda Aguilar warned the city’s 20 barangay chairs of “extreme consequences” should they fail to clear the streets in their areas of obstructions and illegal structures.

“You will be accountable to me if you fail to implement the rules [and] endanger the lives of our fellow Las Piñero,” Aguilar told the officials in a meeting last week.

Aguilar and her daughter, Vice Mayor April, also laid down their plans for clearing the city’s roads, particularly Alabang-Zapote Road.

The mayor’s directive came less than a week after the Department of the Interior and Local Government gave the 17 Metro Manila mayors 60 days to reclaim all public roads or risk facing sanctions.

In July, Aguilar convened Task Force Kaayusan to conduct periodic clearing operations in the city while setting a deadline for unfinished utility services projects.

Free of all obstacles

“These obstructions must be permanently rid from our main road, which is the Alabang-Zapote Road; the inner roads must likewise be cleared of any obstacles. Let us give back the sidewalks to the pedestrians and the roads to motorists,” she said.

She added that the 10-kilometer-long Alabang-Zapote Road could no longer accommodate the over 70,000 vehicles traversing through it every day, with traffic flow in secondary roads consequently also affected.

Under the local government code, local leaders, through their council members, can order the suspension of a barangay chair on administrative charges.