THE Bacolod City officials, along with the village chiefs and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)-Bacolod, will hold a meeting Tuesday, January 19, at the Bacolod Government Center for the extension of the Road Clearing Operation 2.9 (RCO 2.0).
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Monday, January 18, that DILG-Bacolod scheduled the meeting to discuss the final deadline of the RCO 2.0.
"All the barangay officials are expected to attend so they can air their concerns on the demolition of illegal structures within their areas of jurisdiction. We will wait for the announcement of DILG," he said.
This, after the DILG has granted a one-week extension of the deadline of the RCO 2.0 following the requests by local government units (LGUs) to give them more time to clear roads of obstructions.
DILG Undersecretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya earlier said that the deadline for RCO 2.0, which was supposed to be on January 15, will instead be on January 22, 2021 with the validation starting January 25.
DILG earlier required all local government units to continue the RCO 2.0 from November 16, 2020, until January 15, 2021.
In 2019, DILG had given Bacolod City an 87 percent on its accomplishment on road clearing operations.
Familiaran said most of the barangays already cleared the illegal structures within their areas of jurisdiction, except for those who have legal issues.
He said barangays also served notices to owners of illegal structures in various areas in Bacolod.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia earlier said the City Government will also conduct a validation inspection on the accomplishment of the barangay officials with the RCO 2.0.
He said that based on the memorandum of the DILG, barangay officials who fail to function will be penalized.
"My expectation is they will come rushing when the time comes. Everything here will go into the validation process because, in the end, the DILG itself will come here to validate the submitted reports of the barangays," he added.