Metro mayors given 60 days to reclaim public roads

Metro Manila mayors will be given two months or 60 days to clear public roads in the respective areas of any obstruction, a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) official said Thursday.

DILG Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing said the department is currently preparing a memorandum circular for this order.

"I expect the memorandum circular to be out by next week," Densing said following a meeting with Metro Manila mayors and city administrators, adding the memorandum is "being drafted right now."

JUST IN: Metro Manila mayors, binigyan ng dalawang buwan para linisin ang mga lansangan sa kani-kanilang nasasakupan, ayon kay @DILGPhilippines Undersecretary for Operations Epimaco Densing. | via @glenjuego pic.twitter.com/q4BCCPxsPd

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) July 25, 2019

"And I think sa DILG pinag-uusapan na yung mga detalye. We're finalizing it. By next week it will be issued and the 60 days will start."

Mayors Isko Moreno of Manila, Emmy Calixto of Pasay, Vico Sotto of Pasig, and Francis Zamora of San Juan all said the deadline is reasonable and the task doable.

The four mayors also said that they have started clearing operations in their respective cities even before the directive was given.

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año earlier said he wants Metro Manila roads cleared on or before September.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, directed mayors and governors to reclaim public roads or risk suspension. —with Tina Panganiban-Perez/KBK, GMA News