Road clearing in the metro 85% complete, mayor says

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

A WEEK before the 60-day deadline for the mandatory road clearing works lapses, Mayor Jerry Treñas assured that road clearing operations in Iloilo City is already nearing its completion.

Treñas reported that 85% of the main roads in the metro have been cleared of illegal structures and road obstructions.

“Mga 85 percent na aton clearing, I also talked to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Asec. Felix Manuel, daw satisfied man sila sa lakat sang aton operations,” he said in an interview on Friday.

In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2019, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte gave a 60-day ultimatum to all local chief executives through DILG secretary Eduardo Año to reclaim all public roads being used for private purposes and to clear all the illegal structures and road obstructions.

The 60-day deadline ends on September 29, 2019.

While Public Safety and Transportation Office (PSTMO) head Jeck Conlu admitted that 60 days is not enough to cover all the barangay roads in the metro, he said he is confident that major thoroughfares will be cleared within the deadline.

“Confident kita sa aton operations sa Oplan Hawan Karsada, but indi man naton mahawan man ang kabilugan including the barangay based in 60 days. Confident kita sa aton operations sa major thoroughfares kay wala naman gid kita diri mga dalako gid nga obstruction sa dalanun,” he said in a separate interview.

Last week, the mayor warned that the DILG including his office will not hesitate to file cases against erring barangay officials.

Conlu also revealed that they are keeping a list of uncooperative barangay officials in the metro.

“Unfortunately, may ara gid man barangay nga daw wala gahulag. I don’t know kon gina-take nila seriously ang memorandum order sang aton mayor and sang aton DILG but indi kami magduha-duha mag-file sang kaso, upon sa amon recommendation,” he said.

He appealed to the barangay officials to cooperate and initiate the road clearing operations in their respective barangays.

“Gaayo gid kami sa mga barangay officials nga indi na paghulaton ang PSTMO magkadto sa barangay ninyo automatic na ina once naka-receive kamo sa memorandum order halin sa aton mayor kag DILG, i-execute naton, may obligasyon kita,” Conlu emphasized.