THE uncooperative and non-supportive village officials will be charged for administrative or criminal sanctions if they fail to sustain the road clearing operations within their areas of jurisdiction.
This was stressed by Ma. Joy Maredith Madayag, director of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Bacolod, yesterday after they were tasked to monitor and to recommend for administrative or criminal sanctions for uncooperative and non-supportive local officials and employees and that includes the barangay officials.
“We will continue to monitor (the compliance of the barangays on road clearing) and to report it to the national office,” Madayag said.
She said last week, the barangay officials were already required to submit their report on the road clearing operations within their areas of jurisdiction.
“We will check the consolidated report of the city if all barangays really sustain the road clearing operations within their areas of jurisdiction,” she added.
Madayag noted that they will also validate the report of the barangays, and the city mayor can also file sanctions to the erring barangay officials.
On January 10, Mayor Evelio Leonardia ordered Memorandum Order No. 3 requiring the barangay officials to submit their compliance on the DILG Memorandum Circular 2019-121 on the implementation of the clearing of roads.
In his memorandum, Leonardia said that based on validation report dated October 18, 2019 of the DILG, the City Government of Bacolod achieved 87 percent medium compliance.
“This is however, composed by percentages of some barangays falling far below 87 percent compliance,” he said.
The barangay officials were required to submit their accomplishments on roads and areas identified for clearing; roads and areas that had been cleared and reported, the same shall be surveyed and inspected to ensure that no repetition of obstruction is committed; the clearing of illegally parked vehicles; illegal vendors; street dwellers; barangay structure and outpost built and situated on sidewalks; shore encroachment; shanties encroachment; house encroachment; garbage dumps; and rice grain drying stations.
Leonardia said the continuity of the program and policy of the DILG for the clearing of public nuisance reemphasizes the imposition of sanctions, penalty, and disciplinary measures against non-supportive or non-compliant local officials and employees, in a manner that the DILG will continue to monitor the clearing operations and conduct on-site validations on a quarterly basis starting January 2020.
He said he also suggested to some top officials in DILG that the DILG should be the one to sanction the barangay officials to erase any personal political possibilities.
DILG earlier filed cases against 10 mayors who failed to perform their duties on the implementation of the DILG Memorandum Circular 2019-121.