75-DAY ROAD CLEARING

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

City officials warned all barangays in the metro to clear tertiary roads of obstructions following new orders from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año issued on Monday a new memorandum order mandating all barangay officials to clear tertiary roads within 75 days.

“Following the success of the road-clearing operations on primary and secondary roads last year, I direct LGUs, especially the barangays, to clear local roads and sustain the gains of the road-clearing operations with the same urgency and enthusiasm,” Año said in a statement.

In Iloilo City, DILG Director Roy Defiño said their office had been monitoring the barangays through the road-clearing validation team organized by Mayor Jerry Treñas via an EO issued in November 2019.

“We started validating before Dinagyang and after the festival, we continued with our validation,” Defiño said in an interview Tuesday.

A total of 120 of the 180 barangays in the metro have been validated, according to Defiño.

Unfortunately, 25 villages failed to meet the “substantial passing rate” of 70% set by DILG in the initial road clearing assessment.

“Sad to note may mga barangays kita nga based sa initial naton nga validation nag-fail gid sila kay below sila sa 70 percent passing rate,” he said.

Defiño said it is up to the mayor to discipline or sanction the 25 barangays.

However, he clarified that they will have to re-validate the barangays again after the 75-day period announced by DILG.

Defiño said the new memorandum of DILG should serve as a stern warning not only to the 25 non-compliant barangays but all the other barangays in the metro.

“Remember, the road clearing is only 50 percent of the indicators. They are also looking at the implemented laws and ordinances of the LGUs; displacement plan of LGUs on the affected residents of the road clearing operations and rehabilitation of the cleared roads,” he said.

Liga ng mga Barangay President and Councilor Irene Ong warned that those barangays which failed on the validation done by the city barangay validation team should see to it that they will pass the second assessment after the 75-day period.

“Kon failure ka sa first assessment kinahanglan sa second makapasa ka na. Kon indi sila makapasa, hulat sila sa 75 days liwat sang DILG pero ang Manila ma-impelment gid sila, administrative teh basi gusto nila masampulan,” he said.

Ong said barangay officials especially the barangay captains have been constantly reminded of their duties and obligations in the road clearing operations.

“Bal-an naman nila ang ila obligasyon, ang mga dalan nga na-clear na dapat bantayan nila maayo.Kon indi sila kasarang mangkuha sang mga obstructions pabulig sila sa Task Force ASIS,” Ong noted.