THE cracks on the mountainside in Barangay Buhisan, Cebu City still pose a danger to residents living below, five years after these were first inspected by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 7.
Yesterday, a mining engineer from the MGB 7 returned to the mountaintop to check the situation.
Engr. Anjay Love Geniston, the agency’s science research specialist, was accompanied by barangay personnel, members of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office and MGB 7 employees.
Geniston said one of the cracks measures 15 centimeters wide, but it appears to be shrinking and is overgrown with vegetation. The soil at the lower part of the crack is soft.
Tanods, who visited the site earlier, found another crack at the bottom.
The cracks appeared right after an earthquake struck Cebu and Bohol in October 2013.
Water enters the cracks when it rains and might loosen the soil that will result in a landslide, endangering the lives of the more than 100 residents of Sitio Sandayong, Geniston said.
Last Monday, the MGB 7 submitted a landslide threat advisory to the barangay, urging residents to be extra careful. The advisory pointed out that heavy rain might wash down rocks from the top of the mountain.
Part of the recommendation of geologists Josephine Aleta and Joh Christopher Santos is to relocate residents along the footslope as a long-term solution. Or, at the very least, evacuate them during rainy periods, they said.
Barangay Captain Gremar Barete said they’re looking at two possible sites—one in Sitio Dulhogan and the other in Sitio Tubod--to relocate the close to 40 families that will be affected. However, the barangay is still negotiating with the lot owners.
Barete also thanked City Councilor Dave Tumulak for passing a resolution to help the residents of Buhisan.
Rogelio Legaspi, 75, and Paulino Ceballos, who moved to the area in the 1980s, said they are not worried about the mountain falling down on them.
The two men said they saw the mountain explode with smoke coming out from under the ground during the 2013 earthquake. A big boulder then rolled down and hit a house below, but no one was hurt.
“We will abide by whatever the barangay decides. But we are not worried about the situation. If God wants us dead, it doesn’t matter where we are,” Legaspi said in Cebuano.
He said there is another crack at the right side of the mountain that is as long as an electric post. It also appeared right after the 2013 earthquake.
Barete hopes residents will abide by whatever decision the MGB 7 will come up with, saying he doesn’t want to happen to Sandayong what happened to Sitio Sindulan in the City of Naga last Sept. 20, where a landslide covered several houses, and killed 78 persons.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) said more local government units (LGUs) are seeking their assistance.
Aside from Talisay City and Tuburan, Alegria, Consolacion and Compostela want the PDRRMO to reassess areas that are located near quarry operations.
Julius Regner of PDRRMO said each LGU in the province was given a geohazard map from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) so they’d know which areas are at risk from natural disasters like flood, earthquake and landslide, among others.
Regner said personnel from PDRRMO went to Tuburan to check mountain cracks in several barangays.
In a related development, DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered the MGB 7 to check the operations of two quarry operators in the City of Naga.
“MGB 7 will conduct a test there as soon as possible because there might be a possibility of another landslide taking place,” he said in Tagalog.
City of Naga Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong admitted asking Cimatu to let the MGB 7 inspect and assess the operations of Quarry Ventures Philippines Inc. (QVPI) in Barangay Tagjaguimit and JLR Construction and Aggregates Inc. in Barangay Cogon.
The MGB lifted the suspension of QVPI and JLR’s operations, along with eight other large-scale quarry and 15 Industrial Sand and Gravel (Isag) operators in Central Visayas earlier this month, after a composite team of geologists and mining engineers from the agency completed its geohazard survey.
The quarry and Isag operators, for their part, had promised to follow the recommendations of the composite team.
After the Naga landslide, Cimatu suspended for 15 days quarry operations in Regions 1, 3, 4-Calabarzon, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 13.
MGB Director Wilfredo Moncano gave the clearance to lift the suspension. (PAC, SCG, HBL)