Friday, August 06, 2004 Landslide buries bulldozer, operator By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- A bulldozer operator was trapped under a heap of anapog (limestone) for nearly two hours Thursday after part of the mountain he was trying to flatten gave way.
Alfredo Malinao, who worked for engineer Ely Flores, made it to the North General Hospital in Talamban, Cebu City, but died just a few minutes later.
Residents of Purok 4, Barangay San Jose blamed the owners of the land for trying to develop the area allegedly without an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).
Felipe Erana, however, denied that his family had the land developed without permits, showing reporters copies of their ECC and clearances from the City Planning and Development Coordination and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
According to Julito Limutan, who was tasked to watch over the heavy equipment, Malinao was flattening an area about 9:45 a.m. when he noticed some particles of anapog sliding from the top.
Panic
As he tried to move the bulldozer back further, more particles began falling.
In an instant, a whole part of the mountain fell on the bulldozer, covering Malinao.
His helper who saw the incident reportedly panicked and ran for fear that the entire mountain would fall on him.
Malinao's body was finally taken out about 11 a.m. and was rushed by paramedics of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) to the North General Hospital.
Some 25 homes are located on the top part of the mountain and the residents fear that more movement below would loosen the soil and eventually affect their homes.
Junie Seno told Sun.Star Thursday that the work in the area began last year.
He said that the developer, Jesus Arcilla, had no permit to start bulldozing the mountain and that the project did not have an ECC from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Gripes
When residents began complaining against the earthworks, the developer would stop for a week and then resume.
Crisanto Miņoza, another resident of Purok 4, said he was fed up with the inaction of San Jose Barangay Captain Rodigilio Arinasa and threatened to go to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas if he still did not work on their petition.
Miņoza said Arinasa's wife Mary was related to the Erana family, which was why he was favoring them.
Erana, though, denied the claims of the Purok 4 residents.
"Their houses are far. The DENR would not have approved the work if it posed risks," Erana told reporters.
Erana showed a copy of an ECC dated June 2, 2003, which showed that their application for a proposed residential subdivision project had been approved.
Blame
The ECC was signed by then Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 director Bienvenido Lipayon.
Erana lamented that the project would have been finished had the residents of Purok 4 not protested.
He also blamed them for the accident.
"We were supposed to start in the area near their homes, but because they kept on protesting, we started in the lower part. The accident would not have happened if they did not keep on protesting," Erana said.
He said he was even leaving a three-meter allowance after the boundary of the property just to make sure they would not be affected by the project.
This is what he and the DENR had agreed on, Erana said.
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