ALL FACILITIES of the Department of Public Works and Highways in the country are set to undergo assessment to ensure that none of these are located in hazard zone areas.
This developed following after the building of the 2nd Engineering District Office of the DPWH collapsed at Sitio Hakrang, Barangay Banawel, Natonin in Mountain Province.
DPWH Secretary Mark Villar who was the guest of honor and speaker in the 14th National Annual Convention of the District Engineers League of the Philippines in Baguio City said measures will now be implemented to ensure that such incident would not happen again to other facilities of the department.
“We will be using the hazard map and at this point, we have sent out a memo to review existing infrastructures and to be even more vigilant with our new structures to make sure that nothing will be compromised in anyway specially on safety,” Villar explained.
On infrastructure resiliency, Villar reiterated the importance of making their structures even more resilient.
“Well I think that it’s a hard lesson for us that we have to be given these conditions now. We have global warming and we have to be more aggressive in our engineering solutions. We are now looking at new technologies to prevent our infrastructures from instances of landslides and rock slides, there is a need for engineering solutions,” the secretary pointed out.
DPWH Cordillera is still in the process of looking for an area where the 2nd Engineering District will be erected.
“There are many landslide area in Natonin and we are still looking for an area for the 2nd District Engineering Office. Definitely it won’t be placed in a hazard prone area,” Villar added.