Cebu City incurs violations in DILG-7 road clearing assessment

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) still found road obstructions in Cebu City during their road clearing inspection on Friday noon, October 4, 2019, despite the city’s continuous clearing operations in the last 60 days.

According to Jonah Pino, the officer-in-charge of the DILG Lapu-Lapu City and the head of the validation team for road clearing in Cebu City, most of the main thoroughfares were cleared from vendors, structures, and other obstructions. However, there were still some areas in the city where vendors are still present, huge tents are opened up along the street, and obstructions are still noticeable.

“Based on my first visit here on September 26, compared sa karon, dako na siyag improvement. Pero naa gihapoy mga ginagmay nga dalan nga namalik nga vendors. Then again, the clearing operations will continue,” said Pino.

(Compared to my first visit of the roads in Cebu City on September 26, now there is a visible improvement. However, there are city streets where vendors have returned. Then again, the clearing operations will continue.)

Pino did not reveal the streets that incurred violations because the members of the validation team composed of DILG, the police, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, and a representative of a non-governmental organization, still need to collate their respective results of the inspection.

Despite the violations incurred by Cebu City in some of its streets, Pino said that, so far Cebu City successfully cleared the major roads such as the Natalio Bacalso National Highway, Osmeña Boulevard, and Colon Street.

Racquel Arce, the head of the Cebu City Prevention, Restoration, Order, Beautification, and Enhancement (PROBE) team, said the inspection was “thrilling” for her as PROBE led the clearing operations of the city.

Arce said that despite their efforts to clear most of the streets, some of the vendors still “stubbornly” return to their posts, causing the city to incur violations.

However, the city managed to maintain most of the streets, which she said gives her confidence that the city will get a passing mark from the inspection.

In order to continuously maintain the streets, Arce said she has tasked a PROBE team to monitor the three main thoroughfares and ten streets that have been cleared in the past 60 days.

“We have a team operating 24/7 to sustain the situation in the streets,” said Arce. 

Arce said the city will not stop the clearing operations but will slow down a little to ensure that the vendors will be relocated properly. /bmjo