LOCAL officials led by City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong expressed surprise at the landslide in Sitio Sindulan, Barangay Tina-an, that has claimed more than 50 lives, saying it was in another sitio, Tagaytay, where cracks had been found and caused concern.
But last Thursday’s landslip wasn’t the first to happen in the two sitios.
On Dec. 18, 2003, a portion of the old quarry site of Apo Cement Corp. (Apocemco) in Sitio Sindulan, Tina-an, collapsed following days of rain, covering part of the company’s concrete wall and an electric post with boulders and limestone.
Water flooded the nearby houses, but no one was injured, SunStar Cebu reported.
Then Naga mayor Ferdinand Chiong, uncle of the present mayor, asked Apocemco to take measures to prevent a recurrence of a similar incident, and cement plant manager Ariel Mendoza assured him that the management would do so.
The quarry that collapsed was behind the Apocemco cement plant, a 10-minute ride from the national highway.
Eight years later, a landslide following heavy rains occurred in Sitio Tagaytay in the same barangay, affecting a portion of Barangay Naalad. Four houses were damaged by limestone boulders.
Immediately following that May 28, 2011 incident, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7 Director Loreto Alburo reminded residents, particularly those living near or at the foot of mountain areas, to be vigilant.
“We are urging our local chief executives and barangay officials to revisit and re-study the landslide susceptibility rating and landslide advisory letters, ” SunStar quoted Alburo as saying.
In last Thursday’s landslide, more than two hectares of Sitio Tagaytay collapsed and created a landslide that covered the neighboring sitio of Sindulan.
In 2012, the MGB 7 named Tagaytay as among the sitios in 10 barangays in Naga with high susceptibility to landslides. (CTL)