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Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Reforest Carmen, mayor tells people
By Jeff M. Tupas
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered the reforestation of landslide-prone barangay Carmen in Baguio District, after the area was hit by floods and landslides last week, resulting in the evacuation of 115 families.
Duterte also said the remaining trees of Carmen will have to be protected, adding that cutting trees in the area should be stopped.
"The whole area needs protection. Some areas of Carmen are still forested which I think really needs to be protected. The cleared areas must be planted with trees for us to avoid landslides and flood," he said.
Carmen barangay chair Alfred Austral agreed with the idea of Duterte and added that they are in fact coordinating with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the planting of the trees.
"We have discussed about this in the barangay council and we are now coordinating with the DENR. I think a massive tree planting activity has to be conducted all over the village especially in the hills which became farmlands and are mostly likely to be eroded," Austral said.
In February, a landslide occurred at the village's Purok 7, which caused the destruction of the water pipelines used to supply water to the nearby villages of Tawan-Tawan, Baguio, Cadalian and parts of Wines, all in Baguio District.
Residents blamed the absence of trees in the hill as the reason why the soil loosened. Had it not been for the clearing operations in the area, it would have not happened, they said.
The environmental group, Interface Development Interventions Inc. (Idis), has constantly called on the residents and officials of the village to protect the hilly portions of Carmen because of the possible tragedy that could happen.
Last year, a group of farmers and some village officials cleared a large portion of Mt. Gaway where the spring that supplies water to the nearby villages is found.
"We sounded the alarm because as much as possible we want to avoid any tragedy. It was great that the City Government acted on it appropriately and ordered the stoppage of all clearing operations in the area," Esquillo said.
Duterte himself ordered the immediate arrest of anybody who enters environmentally critical areas.
City Administrator Wendel Avisado issued an immediate stoppage of the clearing operations upon the order of the city mayor.
Based on the Terrain Analysis of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the environment department in 2004, it was learned that Carmen is moderately to highly susceptible to both landslide and soil erosion.
"This fact alone is enough to cause an alarm. I think it is important for the authorities and the villagers to understand the significance of Carmen and how critical the place is," Esquillo said.
"We better start implementing measures that can ensure the safety of the people in the area...we better do it the soonest possible time before it would all be too late and we can only do that by also ensuring the protection of the environment," Esquillo said.
Idis has long been urging concerned agencies to conduct a thorough assessment of the area and to put in place mitigating measures to avoid such incidents from happening.
Earlier, Councilor Arnulfo Cabling, chair of the committee on environment and natural resources, also said a massive tree planting activity should be done in Carmen.
"There is no best remedy than the natural remedy," Cabling said.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 14, 2006 issue)
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