DILG: LGUs ‘substantially’ compliant in road-clearing drive

MANILA, Philippines — An official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Monday that most local government units (LGUs) nationwide have substantially complied with the agency’s order to clear public roads of obstructions.

DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Marivel Sacendoncillo said the LGUs have already submitted reports on their accomplishment on the nationwide road-clearing drive spearheaded by the agency, as the 60-day deadline to comply with the order ended on Sunday.

READ: DILG kicks off 60-day countdown for Metro Manila cleanup

She said these reports are being validated by the agency and its attached agencies, including the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and non-government organizations.

“Substantially, yes [they have complied] based on these reports, but as I have said these have to be validated,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the meeting of the Metro Manila Regional Peace and Order Council in Pasig City.

But according to Sacendoncillo, not all LGUs have reported clearing 100 percent of public roads in their respective areas.

She said the DILG has yet to establish the “norm” to determine if the LGUs passed or failed in complying with the order, which seeks to help ease the traffic situation in the country.

“We are trying to look at the norm, kasi iba-iba ang situation (because the situation is different) as you go from one city to the other,” she said. “We have not done that yet because we still have to get the validated reports from validating teams.”

Sacendoncillo added that the DILG is not expecting a 100-percent accomplishment on all public roads, citing that some LGUs, especially those in Metro Manila, were challenged on addressing illegal parking.

“What we directed the LGUs was to, at the minimum, clear the primary and secondary roads. There’s really a lot of challenges for the tertiary roads,” she explained.

Should the DILG finds LGUs non-compliant with the order to clear public roads of obstructions, she said the department would issue “love letters” or show-cause orders to local chief executives so they could explain why they were not able to comply.

“This is whether further fact-finding can be done, and if there is sufficient evidence for the filing of a formal case against them, it will be done,” she added, citing suspension of local chief executives as a possible sanction.

But she said even suspension is “not the end of the line.”

“From suspension, further investigation will be done from the appropriate bodies like the Office of the Ombudsman. When the Office of the Ombudsman finds out the worst-case scenario na talagang hindi gumalaw ang LGU (that the LGU really did not do anything), then there will be other penalties na (already),” she concluded.