AN OFFICIAL of the Apo-Cemex Corporation, whose collapsed quarry caused a landslide that claimed 25 people and injured seven in Barangay Tina-an, City of Naga, last Thursday, September 20, admitted they were conducting earth moving there just weeks before the incident happened.
In a press conference yesterday, Chito Maniago, Apo-Cemex representative, said that based on their initial investigation, they found that their personnel were conducting site development in Sitio Tagaytay.
They are preparing the roads in the site and were not quarrying, they said.
While they have mining rights in the area, Maniago said they have not initiated quarrying operations this year.
Maniago assured that the company will help the affected residents and extend P30,000 in cash aid to each affected family.
They will also provide a relocation site for the displaced families in the village.
Residents of Tina-an who survived the landslide cried foul over claims made by the cement manufacturing firm that they are blameless in the disaster that happened.
Residents of Sitios Tagaytay and Sindulan claimed that before the landslide, they saw heavy equipment owned by the Apo Land and Quarry Corp. (ALQC) conducting quarry operations in areas where cracks on the ground were initially found.
Emerito Quesido, vice president of Sitio Sindulan’s chapel association, told SunStar Cebu that Apo-Cemex must be held liable for the landslide that killed many of his neighbors and friends.
Before the landslide occured, Quesido said that ALQC deployed one of its heavy equipment to conduct earth-moving activities.
Quesido claimed that during the landslide, a backhoe owned by ALQC and its driver, Raul Gepuet, were caught in the debris.
Gepuet’s body was one of those recovered during the search and rescue operations last Thursday.
“Pagkadakong bakakon nang Apo kung muingon sila nga wala sila nag-quarry sa Tagaytay. Mismong mga residente didto maoy nakakita nga nag-quarry sila. (It is a such a big lie if Apo says they are not doing quarrying operations. The residents themselves saw that they were quarrying),” Quesido said.
Isaias Macalinao, who has worked as a traffic enforcer for Apo-Cemex for 16 years, can no longer stand by and stay silent on the company’s actions.
He is hurt that the firm he has worked for for more than a decade would be the source of his grief.
Macalinao lost six of his nephews and nieces to the landslide. Of the six, only four were so far found.
John Rey Lapitan, a resident of Sitio Tagaytay, also lambasted Apo-Cemex’s claims, adding they started doing quarrying activities in the area more than a year ago.
Lapitan claimed that when he and other residents showed the cracks on the ground in Sitio Tagaytay, they were only ignored.
“Ingun sila ignorante daw mi ug 20 years pa before mograbe ang mga crack sa yuta. (They told us we were ignorant and that the cracks would only get worse after 20 years),” he said.
In a press conference, City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong couldn’t help but be emotional about what happened to her constituents.
Chiong stood firm that officials of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau were negligent by belittling the cracks found in Sitio Tagaytay.