Baby saves ma during rockfall

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

CEBU CITY – Aileen Panilag, 26, was doing the laundry when two huge boulders crashed down on her family’s house in Barangay Naalad, City of Naga, Cebu shortly before noon last Saturday.

The housewife could have been pinned to death, had she not stood up just moments before the rockfall to attend to her five-month-old baby girl, who was crying in a room.

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A boulder slammed into the hollow block wall and roof, destroyed a television set and a wooden divider, before settling in the living room.

More cascading boulders also destroyed the nipa hut nearby of Aileen’s brother-in-law, Eduardo.

Their neighbor Florencia Afable, 55, was outside their house while her three teenage children were watching a noontime television show when she heard a loud rumbling sound.

Afable said a giant boulder, about the size of a dump truck, rolled down from the hilltop and scattered into pieces that kept rolling downhill.

She said her 16-year-old daughter Princess Mae was nearly hit by a falling rock, which missed her by just a few inches.

Luckily for them, some of the boulders rolled away from their house while others got snagged by bamboo trunks uphill, Afable said.

The incident gouged out part of the hill and displaced 26 families who have been living for years in at the foot of a slope in Sitio Crossing. None of the residents was hurt or injured.

The displaced residents speculated that the cracks could have been caused by a road opening or the installation of an electric tower.

Emergency

Christopher Panilag, Aileen’s 32-year-old husband, said they have to transfer to safer ground, as the rockfall has reportedly left another huge crack uphill.

A car painter, Christopher was at his workplace and had to rush home after hearing about what happened past 11 a.m.

City of Naga Mayor Valdemar Chiong, who visited the area, declared it a danger zone for residents.

He said a property reportedly owned by the Hospicio de San Jose, just across the river of Sitio Crossing, will serve as the temporary relocation site for the displaced families.

The residents are temporarily taking shelter in makeshift tents provided by the City Government and barangay hall.

Chiong said the City cannot give an adequate permanent relocation site for them because 70 percent of the land in Naga has been classified as timberland, which cannot be alienable or disposable.

The City, he said, will negotiate with the caretakers or representatives of Hospicio de San Jose, to allow the 26 families to rent the latter’s property.

Help

The City has set at 9 a.m. tomorrow a meeting with the property caretakers to be attended by Naalad Barangay Captain Sandra Cañalita.

The mayor said what the City can give is P10,000 in financial aid from the indigency fund.

The social welfare office has already provided the families with rice and canned goods.

Cañalita, who also visited the site, assured the barangay hall will allot a financial counterpart for the residents.

But the Panilag and Afable families appealed that their cash aid be increased a bit to compensate for their damaged houses.

The Panilags estimated the damage to their house could run up to over P20,000.

The Provincial Government will also give financial assistance to the affected families.

Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said she’s waiting for the complete report from the Provincial Social Welfare Office, and that those whose houses were more severely damaged will get a higher amount than the others.

She also reminded residents they are not supposed to build their houses in high-risk areas.

Warnings

“But you see that everywhere. You even see that in Mahiga Creek, which is high-risk also, so it’s really a tough challenge to both local government as well as the national government agencies if the people themselves will not heed these warnings,” she told reporters.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is under pressure from some councilors and Rep. Tomas Osmeña to stop clearing houses illegally built too close to the Mahiga Creek, which overflows during heavy rains.

Governor Garcia said that sometimes, if laws are implemented strictly, government officials will be sued and a “Diego Salvador” (someone who tries to play the savior) will emerge. She did not elaborate.

The Barangay Naalad residents said it was the second time they experienced a rockfall in Sitio Crossing in the last two years.

No one was injured or killed in the previous accident as well, they said.

But before last Saturday, two other upland villages of the City of Naga experienced major landslides.

Some four hectares of farmland in Barangay Bairan caved in, destroying root crops, bananas and coconut trees, last May 8.

Another landslide also occurred in the village of Mayana, rendering local residents homeless and leaving barangay roads impassable to motorists. (Sun.Star Cebu)