Baguio City — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Cordillera is targeting 100 percent compliance of the local government units (LGUs) road clearing operations in all local roads in the region.
“The validation will allow the DILG to assess whether or not the LGUs are compliant. The validation team shall be given time to provide feedback on the basis of their observation and to inform them of what to do to improve the LGUs their road clearing operations,” said Araceli San Jose, DILG OIC-Regional Director today.
As stated in the DILG MC-121-2019 RD San Jose explained that being fully compliant is not just about conducting road clearing operations in primary and secondary roads.
“For an LGU to be declared as fully compliant, they should also enact or revisit ordinances related to road clearing and banning of illegal construction and structures; prepare an inventory of roads within their jurisdiction; develop and implement displacement strategies; cause the rehabilitation of recovered public roads, and establish a governance system where people affected by road clearing can air their concerns” she said.
Adding, “The validation result will be submitted to the central office. Among the components being evaluated are the road clearing, ordinance, inventory, rehabilitation, displacement, grievance mechanism, and tricycle ban on national roads,” she said.
RD San Jose said that the Validation Teams (VTs) are composed representatives from the DILG, the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and civil society organization (CSO).
She said that there is a need to “cross-post” VTs to ensure the impartiality of the validation process pursuant to the memorandum circular on the validation of LGU compliance with the road clearing.
This means that during the validation activities, VTs must not be assigned in their original LGU of assignment or residence.
“VTs for component cities and municipalities may be cross-posted within their respective provinces. VTs for provinces, highly urbanized cities (HUCs), and independent component cities (ICCs) may be cross-posted within the region,” she said.
(With a report from Mary Jheama Canullas | Pamela Mariz Geminiano | DILG-CAR, photo courtesy by Joseph Manzano, RPN DZBS Baguio OIC)