THE Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) moved the deadline for road clearing to January 22, 2021, giving local government units (LGUs) seven more days to conduct operations.

DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said they understand that LGUs “have a lot on their plate” because of the pandemic.

Evaluation of LGUs’ accomplishments will start on January 25, 2021.

“This is, in a way, a little help to the LGUs as so that they have more time to comply with the President’s directive,” said Malaya.

President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the DILG in 2019 to take the lead in the road clearing operations in order to reclaim government-owned roads that are being used for private purposes.

This is the second round of road clearing operations, dubbed RCO 2.0.

Due to the pandemic, implementation is partial only in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) such as Metro Manila.

Areas under modified GCQ may fully implement road clearing operations.

These are suspended in areas under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) and ECQ.

Malaya said the DILG has created validation teams which will conduct verification on the ground together with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

“This time around mayroon tayong VTs na established at cross-posted, meaning, kung taga-Quezon City sila hindi sila puwede mag-validate sa QC, dapat nasa Taguig City sila o alin mang ibang lungsod,” he said.

To reduce the risk of exposure to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and other health risks, Malaya said DILG regional directors are enjoined to consider minimal Itravel in the cross-posting of the validation teams.

The DILG earlier said that 101 out of 1,245 LGUs nationwide have been issued show cause orders for failure to comply with the road clearing directive. Administrative cases have been slapped on 15 local government executives. (SunStar Philippines)