The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Tuesday announced that 43.3 percent of local government units (LGU) nationwide reported conducting road-clearing operations in their localities since the setting of the 60-day deadline for local chief executives to clear obstructions in their respective cities.

In a press briefing, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año revealed that as of 3 September, Metro Manila is the top compliant for the order, followed by Cagayan Valley with 77.5 percent, Central Luzon with 62.3 percent, Central Visayas with 58.3 percent, CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) with 53.5 percent, and Western Visayas with 52.6 percent, based on the latest compliance report submitted to the DILG’s Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS).

The Interior secretary also noted that the BLGS data also show that 707 LGU in the country reported having conducted road clearing operations; while 397 LGU reported having enacted or revisited their ordinance relating to road clearing and banning of illegal construction.

On the other hand, 931 LGU have reported to have completed an inventory of roads within their jurisdiction; 668 reported having displacement strategies in place for those affected by the clearing operations; and 609 reported to have rehabilitation efforts on recovered public roads.

Año said that he is satisfied with the performance of Metro Manila mayors in complying with the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to clear roads from illegal structures and constructions, but noted that “there is more that needs to be done.”

He said a total of 139,959 meters of roads and 52,831 meters of sidewalk in Metro Manila have been reportedly cleared of obstructions and illegal structures.

“Our operations further resulted to 1,444 illegal vendors, 49 terminals (tricycle, jeepney, pedicab, etc), 1,292 illegally parked vehicles, and 813 obstructions (booth, monoblocks, etc) displaced from our roads,” Año said.

The DILG chief also stressed that six cities and one municipality in Metro Manila has been “100 percent” compliant with the 60-day deadline for LGU – to which he cited the cities and municipalities as Marikina, Malabon, Navotas, Pasay, San Juan, Valenzuela and Pateros.

“We are pleased with the support, cooperation, and compliance of Metro mayors to the presidential directive but we need to do more and we expect them to sustain their efforts in order to help clear the streets of Metro Manila of traffic,” Año said.

“Notwithstanding the hardwork put in by the LGUs in this effort, we also have to give credit to the close monitoring made by our