AN investigating team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on its way to inspect the extent of the infestation in the Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve met an accident yesterday.
The driver had trouble on the inclined road just a few meters from the boundary of Barangay Toong in Cebu City.
Two members of the Ecosystems Research and Development Services team--foresters Nestor Molina and Joselito Sumabat--disembarked to get rocks and placed them behind the wheels of the vehicle.
Slippery road
But the brakes couldn’t hold, and the vehicle slid down the slippery road.
The driver, Simeon Labajo, with team leader Chief Science Research Specialist Aguinaldo Bueno Jr. on the front passenger seat, tried to keep the vehicle from slipping downhill.
The vehicle fell to its left side into a ditch.
No one was hurt. Labajo and Bueno went out of the vehicle through the window of the front passenger seat.
Bueno informed the DENR 7 office and was told the vehicle will be towed today.
The team was convened to assess the nature of infestation and damage on teak trees caused by moth larvae within the Central Cebu Protected Landscape.