Despite being placed under the General Community Quarantine, the local government of Bacolod is expected to resume its Road-Clearing Operations (RCO 2.0) after the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has released a memorandum ordering all local government units to resume operations by November 16.
In his DILG Memo Circular 2020-145, DILG Sec. Eduardo Año said that the resumption of RCO 2.0 will vary, in different degrees, depending on the quarantine classification of an area. For regions under GCQ, the local government is expected to role out its partial implementation, while areas under MECQ and ECQ, the RCOs are suspended.
According to Año partial implementation in areas under GCQ is limited to the actual removal or abatement of road and sidewalk obstructions that are considered dangerous to motorists and pedestrians and road clearing for the purpose of establishing bike lanes. Full implementation in MGCQ areas and below, he said, requires LGUs to adopt all components of the RCO as provided by DILG Memorandum Circular 2020-027.
All local government units are expected to complete the clearing operation by January 15, 2021.
Prior to the pandemic, figures released by the city government in January showed that of the total 11,517 illegal structures, at least 9,966 have been cleared.
DILG validation of LGU compliance, just like in the previous implementation of RCO, will be exercised in the provincial, municipal, and city levels on January 18-22, 2021. LGUs that fail to comply with the presidential directive will face administrative charges from the DILG.
