DILG wants LGUs to pass ordinance on class suspension

MANILA, Philippines — Mayors and local government officials should pass their guidelines on the declaration of suspension of classes during rainy days without typhoon signals amid criticisms of some local chief executives for failure to suspend classes on time.

Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III said that a local ordinance should be passed by city or town councils to be able to address the concerns of parents and students on class suspension during heavy downpours without typhoon signal.

Officials of the DILG led by Secretary Eduardo Año are now discussing measures on how to make local government officials, particularly mayors and city and town councils to pass their own ordinance for the declaration of no classes during rainy days.

“We are looking at the possibility of directing them (local government units) to pass their respective ordinances on when and where they can declare no classes,” he pointed out.

He described as wrong and foolish the suggestion of giving back to the Department of Education (DepEd) the responsibility of suspending classes during rainy days.

Densing admitted there are local chief executives who do not want to wake up early in the morning to issue the directive.

In the past, almost all students have reached schools before their mayors declare classes suspension, thus many students had to wade in the knee-deep or waist-high floodwater on their way home.

As early as May or two months ago, the DILG has instructed mayors and local government units to convene their respective local disaster risk reduction management councils and prepare for the onset of rainy days.

The mayors know the peculiarity of their localities, thus they are in the best position to make decisions for their constituents, Densing said.

Local execs differ on class suspension

Class suspension should be decided by the local government and not by the DepEd, a city mayor declared.

“It is the sole responsibility of local government units (LGUs) to declare suspension of classes,” said Parañaque City mayor Edwin Olivarez in a phone interview with radio station dzBB yesterday. 

He earlier declared suspension of classes yesterday in all levels and government work – except for offices involved in delivery of basic services, emergency response and other vital functions – in the city due to inclement weather.

Executive Order 66, signed in January of 2012, mandated that local government officials in flood-prone or high-risk areas might decide to suspend classes or government work despite absence of typhoon warning signals in the said areas.

However, Quezon City administrator Aldrin Cuña previously suggested that the DepEd’s regional director instead should declare class suspension.

“We don’t want our chief executives to look bad in public by not listening to the pressure or the sentiments of the students… but then again we waste school time for children,” he said in a television interview. – With Ghio Ong