DILG sets new road clearing ops for LGUs

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is gearing up for a new round of street clearing operations, an official said yesterday.

The department is also set to release a new report on the compliance of local government units (LGUs) with the clearing operations, Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said.

He added that this is to assess if the LGUs were able to sustain gains in the initial clearing operations ordered by President Duterte during his fourth State of the Nation Address last year.

Following the assessment, the DILG will launch a new round of clearing operations, which would last 75 days.

Malaya said their assessment teams had a hard time evaluating the compliance of LGUs due to differing interpretations of the guidelines.

“We will orient all our teams on how to make the evaluation… 75 days po yan and we will make the announcement very soon,” he said in an interview over dzMM.

The DILG earlier warned that LGUs could face sanctions if they fail to sustain gains in last year’s clearing operations.

During the first round of clearing operations, over 6,800 roads, or 75 percent of total roads in the country, were cleared of obstructions.

In Metro Manila, all LGUs were able to comply with DILG Memorandum 2019-121.

However, over 90 mayors all over the country face charges over their poor performance in the road clearing operations.