By Chito Chavez

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Friday disclosed that the nationwide road clearing efforts of the local government units (LGUs) were “generally successful” with only 97 of the 1,245 of the cities and municipalities in the country being found to be non-compliant with the presidential directive, and will be issued show cause orders (SCO).

DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año, in a press briefing, commended the concerned LGUs for coming up with a successful road clearing operation despite its extreme difficulty.

He thanked the LGUs for their full support and congratulating them for their resounding commitment, compliance, and cooperation.

But despite the significant success in road clearing, Año asserted “we must be strict and abide with our own pronouncement of imposing corresponding sanctions to non-compliant LGUs.”

“Following the strenuous validation efforts of the DILG, ninety-seven (97) LGUs all over the country which were non-compliant will be issued Show Cause Orders today. These were LGUs that garnered a failed rating in the validation conducted by the Department,” he said.

Of the 97 LGUs, 11 were from Region I, one each from Region II and III, seven from Mindoro-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan (Mimaropa), 10 from Region V, one from Region VI, 12 from Region VII, nine from Region VIII, 18 from Region IX, 13 from Region X, three each from Region XI and XII, and four each from XIII and CAR.

As clearly stated by the President in his SONA, Año asserted that the non-complying LGUs would be made accountable.

The DILG Secretary said the 97 non-compliant LGUs will be given five days from receipt of the Show Cause Orders to explain their non-compliance.

He added that “otherwise the DILG will have no recourse but to submit their names to the President and file the necessary complaints with the Office of the Ombudsman’’.

“We hope that their reasons are acceptable so that we do not need to file cases against them,” he added.

He also explained the non-compliance or underperformance of the 97 LGUs must not outweigh the outstanding performance of most LGUs spearheaded by the cities of Metro Manila.

According to the data collected by the DILG Validation Teams, 13 of the Metro Manila LGUs have a High Compliance rating, three LGUs have Medium Compliance rating, while one LGU had registered a Low Compliance rate.

Despite many issues confronted, the DILG chief said all of them were quick to enact or revise ordinances and conduct an inventory of roads to be cleared, among other indicators.

Garnering high compliance ratings were Manila, Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Valenzuela, Pateros, and San Juan.

On the other hand, the cities of Muntinlupa, Pasig and Quezon City got Medium Compliance rating, while Taguig City received a Low Compliance rating.

He equated the Metro Manila LGU performance rate to a total of 612 roads that were cleared, rendered passable and can now be used by the public.

Año noted the compliance rate from Metro Manila LGUs was a great platform for other traffic management initiatives that call for LGU-participation and a huge contribution in the efforts of the government to alleviate the traffic problem in the Metropolis.

“We all know that it would take more efforts to really improve the traffic situation in our country but this is a good start for the government. All major streets leading to major thoroughfares are now cleared, malaking bagay po ito (this is a huge boost),” he said.

Nationwide compliance

Año said that, in terms of nationwide compliance to DILG MC 2019-121, a total of 1,148 have passed the DILG validation with 328 registering High Compliance rating, followed by 497 for Medium Compliance, and 323 under Low Compliance.

He noted that among the highly compliant regions were Regions II, III, VI, XII and CAR.

“The regions did not disappoint. We are happy to share that our road clearing campaign is also thriving in all parts of the country as mirrored through the numbers from our validation efforts,” Ano explained.

“Batay sa mga report mula sa 1,148 na mga LGU, 6,873 mga kalsada sa buong bansa ang naibalik na sa publiko bunga din ng pakikiisa ng mga pamahalaang lokal sa mga lalawigan, lungsod at bayan sa bansa (Based on the report from 1,148 LGUs , 6,873 roads in the country have been returned for public use due to the cooperation of the officials of the provinces, cities and towns),’’ he added.

Año said that given the significant success of the road clearing, the nationwide road clearing program of the DILG will continue and that the validation of the DILG will now be done on a quarterly basis.

“We, therefore, urge the public to continue reporting and be vigilant and cooperate to ensure the long-term success of the program,” he concluded.