IS the recent instruction from Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Eduardo Año for the local government officials to clear all the roads of obstructions in 75 days an obvious indication that these officials were only good in clearing the roads at the beginning of President Rodrigo Duterte’s order, but failed to sustain efforts?
This reminds me of the Filipino idiom ningas cogon. On resource says ningas cogon “describes someone who is only doing well, in whatever it is that they’re doing, during the beginning. It also figuratively means that the individual is unable to maintain the quality of his/her work any better than a Cogon grass maintains its burn (ningas).”
In July last year, after Duterte ordered to reclaim the public roads, the DILG gave the local officials 60 days to comply with the instruction of the President. The Cebu City officials received the accolade from the DILG, which visited the city after the sidewalks were cleared of vendors.
As a consequence, about 97 mayors failed to comply with the President’s road clearing order and the DILG filed cases for gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct before the Ombudsman against the 10 out of the 97 mayors who weren’t able to answer the show cause order of the DILG.
To date, however, we don’t know what happened to the administrative cases filed against the 10 mayors before the Ombudsman. Charged were Ginatilan, Cebu Mayor Dean Michael Singco; Baco, Oriental Mindoro Mayor Reynaldo Marco; Pili, Camarines Sur Mayor Tomas Bongalonta, Jr; Pagsanghan, Samar Mayor Edgar Tan; Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur Mayor Boen Dorotheo Cabahug; Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur Mayor Joel Sulong; Sagay, Camiguin Mayor Joseph Uayan; Manticao, Misamis Oriental Mayor Antonio Baculio; and Caraga Mayor Alicia Mori in Davao Oriental.
It’s worth recalling, though, that before this 75-day timeline for the local officials to clear all the roads of all types of obstructions, the DILG about a month ago issued an order for the LGUs to review their grant of the permit for tricycles-for-hire (TCFH) and not to allow them to travel along the highway and primary roads.
In the first week of this month that I went to Minglanilla and just last week when I traveled to Danao City, tricycles still abound in the highway loaded with passengers. Although, the DILG in its recent instructions to the LGUs reminded them about the tricycles, it appears that the DILG did not monitor compliance with this instruction.
After Titus Borromeo and I discussed lengthily the 75-day deadline for the local officials to clear the roads of obstruction at our radio program “Frankahay Ta” at DyCM (1152AM), Carlo Logarta, planning and development officer of Bogo City, called me up to air his dilemma in the clearing of road obstructions.
Their problem, he said, is that some landowners were not yet paid the value of their land that were acquired by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) as road-right-of-way. Logarta said that while certain lots are already part of the road, the title is still in the name of the landowner.
What Logarta is simply saying is that road clearing is not the sole obligation of the LGUs. The DPWH should also be involved because some landowners have not yet been paid. But the road clearing of municipal and barangay roads is the LGUs’ sole responsibility. Well, it’s a refreshing thought that the DILG is on top of the situation.