The Department of the Interior and Local Government extended anew the deadline of the Road Clearing Operation 2.0 to Feb. 15 in consideration of the need of local government units to prepare their local vaccination plans against the Covid-19.
The DILG recently issued Memorandum 2021-007 tasking LGUs to come up with a local vaccination plan that contains the preparation of risk communication plans and conduct of early vaccine communication campaign to disseminate critical information on Covid-19 vaccination.
The plan must also include a master list of priority eligible vaccinees; identification of possible vaccine centers, available cold chain storages, and other logistical requirements; and a master list of existing human resources and personnel needed in the vaccination program, among others.
“The department is fully cognizant of the urgency for LGUs to prepare their vaccination plans against Covid-19 that’s why the road clearing timeline is extended anew. This is, however, the last extension to be granted by the DILG,” said DILG Usec. Jonathan Malaya.
“We need to give LGUs time to focus on their local vaccination plans so we are giving them more time to undertake their road-clearing operations,” he added.
He said the DILG’s validation of LGUs’ compliance has also been moved from Jan. 18 to Feb. 16 to March 2.
“The deadline of the submission of all consolidated validation reports from the DILG regional offices will be one week after the end of the validation period or on March 9. We will not allow any modification in the report after submission,” he said.
To ensure close coordination on the submission of reports, Malaya said DILG regional offices must designate one road clearing focal person whose names should be submitted to the DILG central office by Feb. 2.
DILG regional offices are also given until Feb. 9 to submit to the DILG Central Office a directory of the members of all their validation teams for each province, city, and municipality within their region.
Validation teams are composed of one representative each from the DILG, the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, and civil society organization/media.
In a recent memorandum prescribing the guidelines on the conduct of validation of LGU compliance on road clearing, DILG Officer-in-Charge Usec. Bernardo C. Florece, Jr. stressed the need to “cross-post” validation teams to ensure the impartiality of the validation process. This means that during the validation activities, validation teams must not be assigned in their original LGU of assignment or residence.
Validation teams for component cities and municipalities may be cross-posted within their respective provinces. Validation teams for provinces, highly urbanized cities, and independent component cities may be cross-posted within the region.
For LGUs under general community quarantine with a require partial implementation of road clearing, validation teams will select three to 10 local roads within the LGU and assess whether road obstructions exist along or within the entirety of the selected roads. The schedule of the assessment will be determined solely by the team. The LGUs’ compliance on the ban of tricycles on national highways shall also be checked.
LGUs under modified general community quarantine or post-quarantine scenario will be validated according to their full implementation of road clearing operations.
The seven components are the removal of road obstructions, enactment of an enabling ordinance, conduct of an inventory of road obstructions, crafting and implementation of a displacement plan, rehabilitation of cleared roads, creation of a grievance mechanism, and compliance with the ban on tricycles along national roads.
The LGUs’ compliance on the ban of tricycles on national highways shall also be checked.
The DILG also enjoined LGUs to submit photographs, videos, presentations, reports, and other means of verifications that support their compliance as attachments to the reports to the validation teams. – Press release
April 20, 2024
