Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Mabini landslide prompts City to plan court action
THE Cebu City Government is contemplating legal action against a development project in the mountain barangay of Mabini that allegedly lacked a permit and caused a landslide that blocked the road the other day.
The incident came just two days after two persons got buried under mud and debris when rain-soaked soil slid and caused a clump of bamboos to topple down their home in Sitio Sudlon Riverside, Barangay Lahug.
City Councilor Gerardo Carillo said they are thinking of providing container vans as temporary shelter for an estimated 100 families that should be evacuated from Sudlon Riverside and neighboring Sitio Acacia, where a landslide damaged two houses last Sunday.
The houses, like that rented by Marivic Alfonso, sat on the bank of a river.
Marivic and brother-in-law Rolando Alfonso got buried and suffered cuts and bruises. Marivic’s children, Jemar, six, and Jasmine, one year old, managed to escape after the bamboos destroyed the hut.
Carillo said at least 100 families should leave the area because of the threat of landslide and flashflood.
On the Mabini incident, he said they will enforce today the order of Mayor Tomas Osmeña for a certain Andrinico Adarna to clear the road.
Adarna, he was told, allegedly built a gate that blocked the road and dumped mounds of unearthed soil from an excavation on the road.
TV Patrol Cebu reported yesterday that the Adarnas were building their own road leading to their property.
“I reported this to the mayor, and he prepared an order directing the PNP and the CCDCC (Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council), and all government agencies to clear the road,” Carillo said.
“Ang dalan mismo kuno dunay bangag. (We were told the road itself now has a hole.) But the road is owned by the City…. We will investigate for possible legal action, and if they will have to compensate the City for the damage or whatever cost to the road,” he added.
He said that the Mabini Barangay Council, led by Barangay Captain Rey Oybenes, two weeks ago sent the mayor a resolution complaining against the Adarnas.
The resolution, Carillo said, was referred to the City Attorney’s Office.
Also, Sinsin Barangay Captain Ramon Ylaya Jr. told Sun.Star that they already recommended to the CDCC two lots as relocation sites for 70 families affected by the Sitio Nangka landslide last April.
He said that at P100 per square meter, the lots were the most affordable that the barangay could recommend.
The lots are also stable, he said, as attested to by Mines and Geosciences Bureau personnel who inspected them on Thursday last week.
Located a good two kilometers from the landslide site, the lots offer relative safety from soil movement.
Ylaya also corrected a television report stating that evacuated residents have returned to their homes.
Ylaya said that while there are residents who indeed went back to their homes during the day to tend to their farm and animals, they return to their temporary shelter at the Sinsin I sports complex at night. (RHM)
