DILG wants LGUs to pass class suspension ordinance

Mayors and local government officials should pass their guidelines on the declaration of suspension of classes during rainy days without typhoon signals, according to Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III.

Amid criticisms of some local chief executives for failure to suspend classes on time, Densing said a local ordinance should be passed by city or town councils to address the concerns of parents and students on class suspensions during heavy downpours without typhoon signal.

Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officials 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 ordinances for declaring the suspension of classes during rainy days.

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

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 would declare class suspensions, thus, many students had to wade in the knee-deep or waist-high floodwater on their way home.

As early as two months ago, the DILG has instructed mayors and LGUs 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, according to Densing.

Local execs differ on class suspension

For Parañaque City mayor Edwin Olivarez, class suspensions should be decided by the local government and not by the DepEd.

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

He declared the suspension of classes earlier the other day in all levels and government work – except for offices involved in the 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 may decide to suspend classes or government work despite the absence of typhoon warning signals in the said areas.

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

“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. –