Marikina is 'gold standard' in road clearing, says DILG undersecretary

MANILA - The local government of Marikina City is the "gold standard" in terms of reclaiming public roads, a senior official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Tuesday.

"Sa tingin ko, Marikina is really the gold standard here because they've been doing it for a long time," DILG Undersecretary Jonathan Malaya said on ANC's Headstart on Tuesday.

Even before President Rodrigo Duterte's marching order to reclaim public roads in order to improve traffic flows, Malaya said Marikina was already doing a good job after Bayani Fernando took over as mayor in 1992 or 27 years ago.

"They did it when mayor BF was the mayor and continued, and they passed all necessary ordinances. They have the fines for illegal parking, they have the anti-towing...they have everything there," he said.

Malaya believes that discipline has been the key to Marikina's success.

"It's really the culture of discipline and that culture of discipline is what made it possible and we want to pass that on to the other LGUs," he said.

Malaya said the 60-day deadline for LGUs to clear roads is on September 29. There will be no extension, he said.

"We are very pleased because we all know how difficult local governments can be. We're pleased that many of the mayors are doing things that we wouldn't expect them to do," he said.

A press conference is expected on Monday where the DILG will announce the best practices of each local government that can be emulated by other LGUs.

He added that a city needs to comply with the four parameters set by DILG to be classified as compliant.

These parameters include:

• revisiting, repealing or enacting new ordinances helpful to road clearing or in easing traffic;
• inventory of roads to determine which ones have obstructions;
• clearing these roads; and,
• displacement strategy or finding a temporary place for displaced vendors to sell their wares.

A validation team will assess the compliance of LGUs. Those with red flags will be given show-cause orders.
 
"If we're not satisfied with the reply to the show-cause order, then we would have to submit their names to the president and the president would then suspend them from office," he said.