In light of the upcoming follow-up road-clearing evaluation, Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas called a meeting earlier this week where he gathered the 46 barangay captains who failed the initial evaluation by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
“I told them, while I do not want to impose administrative sanctions against them, if there will be recommendation from DILG then I don’t have a choice but to do so,” the mayor said. “It will be very difficult for me not to impose the administrative sanctions.”
Last month, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año noted, beginning February 17, local government units have 75 days to clear any remaining obstructions from the road.
“After the 75-day period, we will again conduct a validation,” Roy Defiño of the Iloilo City DILG earlier stated.
After the mayor urged barangay officials to work on everything they need to fix they promised to have everything cleared on or before April 30.
According to Treñas, the initial report supposedly found about 25 percent of the problems were due to illegal parking. In response, he called on Public Safety and Transportation Management Office head Jeck Conlu, who, after evaluating the situation with illegal parking, said, “There [are] hard-headed individuals in the barangays who keep on doing it despite being reprimanded.”
Administrative charges for gross negligence or dereliction of duty await the city mayor and barangay captains who fail the evaluation.
As of March 4, 139 out of Iloilo City’s 180 barangays have been completely evaluated. Aside from the 46 failures, another 41 barangays have yet to be evaluated./WDJ