DILG to implement new 75-day road clearing ops

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is set to implement a new 75-day road clearing operation to bolster government efforts to reclaim public roads, the agency’s spokesperson said Wednesday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the agency's “Disiplina Muna” campaign, Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said the new road clearing operations will be aimed at further clearing up public roads after some local government units (LGUs) were not able to comply with the agency’s order to clear roads within 60 days.

“We will launch another one kasi marami pang kalsada na kailangan pang ayusin,” he said. “Another 75 days of road clearing at i-iidentify na namin ‘yung mga kalsada na kailangang linisin ng mga LGUs.”

The DILG earlier reported that 97 out of over 1,600 local governments failed to comply with the 60-day road clearing operations. 

Malaya said that despite this, the agency is still satisfied with the performance of LGUs.

“The 60-day program was only focused on the major roads and secondary roads, so nakita naman natin na nagsumikap ‘yung mga LGU. But some did not, so ‘yung mga yun, naissue-han na namin ng show cause order,” he said.

“Learning from the experience natin noong 60-day road clearing, kung walang suporta ang tao at hindi nila naiintindihan kung ano ito, wala ring magiging matagumpay na buo na programa,” Malaya added.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered local governments to reclaim public roads last July. —LDF, GMA News