The nationwide road-clearing drive of the Department of Interior and Local Government will continue, even after the deadline set by President Rodrigo Duterte for the initiative, in a bid to push local governments units (LGU) into sustaining their clearing operations, a Bohol DILG official said.

According to DILG provincial director Jhonjoan Mende, their road-clearing validation will now be a quarterly activity with the next one to be conducted in December.

Mende reminded LGUs that those who will fail to comply with the President’s order will face administrative charges.

The DILG’s validation team is comprised of the Municipal Local Government Operations Officer (MLGOO), personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Fire Protection(BFP) and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) and members of civil society organizations(CSO’s).

The teams will monitor various localities for obstructions along roads in their respective areas of responsibility.  

In Bohol, the LGUs of Antequera, Garcia Hernandez, Talibon and Valencia were issued show-cause orders for supposedly failing to enforce their road clearing operations and failed to beat the October deadline set by Duterte.

Data from the DILG indicated that 97 out of the 1,245 LGUs across the country have been found to be non-compliant.

The DILG still however considered the initiative “generally successful.”

“We congratulate the LGUs for their commitment. Sa totoo lang, mahirap itong trabahong ito but despite this, we have achieved a resounding participation and compliance from a greater number of LGUs,” DILG Secretary Eduardo M. Año said.