Local execs barred from going on leave during calamities

MANILA, Philippines — Local officials are prohibited from traveling abroad and going on leave during calamities and emergencies, the Department of the Interior and Local Government said yesterday.

In a memorandum dated Jan. 4, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said travel authorities and leaves of absence of local officials are automatically recalled during typhoons and other disasters to ensure their presence.

“As we are guided by law, we will exercise it to its full extent to ensure that local chief executives are where they are expected to be in times of disaster or calamities,” DILG spokesman Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya said in a statement released yesterday.

Año said that travel authorities issued by the provincial governors to city and municipal mayors, councilors – who are chairpersons of disaster response committees – and heads and officers of the local disaster risk reduction and management offices are recalled in the event of calamities and disasters.

The DILG on Monday endorsed to the Office of the Ombudsman for appropriate sanctions the names of five local chief executives who were absent from their posts during the onslaught of Typhoon Ompong in Northern Luzon in September last year.