CEBU CITY, Philippines — Local government units (LGUs) whose road clearing efforts “failed” in the standards of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) must continue their efforts and prepare to explain their “non compliance.”
In an interview on Monday, October 14, DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales said the LGUs that garnered a score of below 70 for their road clearing efforts did not necessarily fail but only lacked time to implement measures to clear the roads and sidewalks.
Gonzales said the different LGUs had different pacings and might require more time to effectively enforce measures to get rid of the illegal structures that encroach the roads and sidewalks.
In Cebu, among the LGUs that were failed by DILG inspectors during their assessment last September 30 to October 4 were Carcar City, Badian, Carmen, Compostela, Ginatilan and Moalboal.
“Ang nga mayor makita man nato nga ni-comply gyud sila. But we cannot expect nga ma-100 percent nila ang clearing in so short of a time. Good for those who made it pero lahi man og pacing ang mga towns,” Gonzales told CDN Digital.
“They will be asked to explain but after that, continue sa pagclearing. We, in the DILG, we will also have a continuous monitoring and validation,” he said.
Read more: BREAKING: 12 LGUs in Central Visayas fail DILG assessment
Carcar City Mayor Mercedita Apura told CDN Digital that they were surprised to receive the failing mark because the DILG validation team assigned to evaluate their road clearing initially gave a positive rating.
Apura added that the city had already started its efforts to rid their roads and sidewalks of illegal structures even before President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive during the State of the Nation Address last July 22 and the DILG Memorandum issued by Secretary Eduardo Año last July 29.
Read more: 60 day countdown for LGUs to clear public roads starts Monday — Año
Meanwhile, Mayor Dean Michael Singco of Ginatilan promised to continue with their road clearing efforts.
Singco admitted that their failure might have been due to constraints.
“Kulang ra 60 days to implement labi na og ipaagi og due process and in a task force. Anyway, we will continue to follow President Duterte’s order and hopefully maka-catch up ra mi in time for the next rating period,” Singco said./dbs