Raps filed vs. 2 mayors for failing to remove road obstructions —DILG

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has slapped administrative charges against two municipal mayors who allegedly failed to clear their roads of illegal obstructions.

DILG Secretary Eduardo Año on Friday said those administratively charged for gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct before the Office of the Ombudsman were Boliney, Abra mayor Benido Balao-as and Motiong, Samar mayor Renato Cabael.

"We meant it when we said that cases will be filed against negligent local executives," he said in a statement.

"Unless local chief executives get their acts together and take the President’s instructions to clear roads seriously, they will be held accountable and face charges."

Año said the agency's validating team in Motiong found out that nine roads in the area have illegally-parked vehicles, barangay structures, store encroachments, shanties, garbage dumps, canal obstructions, plants and other construction materials as obstructions.

The municipality of Boliney, meanwhile, had failed to present an inventory of the provincial, municipal and barangay roads in their area. Año said an identified provincial road was found to have extended canopies as obstructions.

“The municipalities of Motiong and Boliney obtained a total score of not more than 50 points in the indicators set by the DILG. Such score translated to their glaring failure to follow the rule of law that public streets are for public use,” Año said.

According to Año, the two municipalities have also failed to come up with any rehabilitation and sustainability plans nor set up a grievance and feedback mechanism as regards clearing of road obstructions.

Meanwhile, the DILG chief called on the Office of the Ombudsman to immediately act on the cases filed by the DILG in order to prove to the public that the government "means business" when it had ordered road clearing operations.

He also warned that the DILG would file more cases against those mayors who will fail in the government's directive.

“More cases will be filed as soon as our lawyers have finished reviewing the validation reports and the corresponding answers by the mayors,” Año said. —KBK, GMA News