3 villages in Cebu City declared danger zones
DAMAGED ROAD Even before the upland barangay of Sirao in Cebu City was declared a danger zone in early February, the village known for its flower farms has already been experiencing soil erosion and land fissures following heavy rains, such as what happened in early 2017 when rain-induced landslides damaged roads in the village. —CEBU DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO
CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Three upland villages here have been declared as “danger zones” by the city government’s Task Force Likay sa Landslide (Task Force to Prevent Landslide) because of the presence of soil fissures that might put residents at risk.
The villages of Bonbon, Babag and Sirao were declared danger zones at about the same time that the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CCDRRMO) had requested the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to inspect the presence of these cracks to avert untoward incidents from happening, said lawyer Jerone Castillo, the task force head.
Mayor Michael Rama will act based on the recommendations of the MGB, said Castillo in an interview on Wednesday.
The chiefs of these villages were encouraged to be part of the process to ensure the safety of their constituents, according to Castillo.
Harold Alcontin, chief of the CCDRRMO, said in a separate interview on Feb. 1 that they started looking into the situation in upland villages since last year.
“In August [2022], we conducted a series of assessments in the areas which have been prone to landslides. So we requested the MGB to release advisories [according to what we observed],” he said.
Worsened
The CCDRRMO conducted another investigation in November and December 2022 due to the incessant rains and found that the landslides and cracks in the three villages have worsened, especially in Sirao.
This prompted Rama to issue an executive order in December creating the Task Force Likay sa Landslide.
“Actually, we were closely monitoring 14 barangays, but the situation in Babag, Bonbon, and Sirao were bad,” Alcontin said.
Alcontin, however, did not say how large the cracks were or if they were found in populated areas.
But former Councilor Dave Tumulak said there were a number of fissures in these upland villages and their sizes vary. Some measure 33 meters long and five inches wide while the others are 11.3 m long. One crack has a depth of about 1.40 m, he added.
Tumulak, then chief of the city’s disaster risk reduction and management council, had visited these areas and had seen these cracks since 2017.
The three villages are sparsely populated and thrive on vegetable and flower farming. Based on the 2020 census, Babag has a population of 5,945; Bonbon has 6,108; and Sirao, famous for its flower farms that have become a tourist attraction in the city, has a population of 3,647.
Other hilly villages in the city have also suffered from massive soil erosion during heavy rains, such as what happened on Oct. 29 last year, when a landslide in Sitio Garaje in Barangay Busay damaged several houses and left more than 30 individuals homeless. No one was hurt in the incident.
Alcontin said they were waiting for the MGB to release an advisory based on their investigation so proper actions could be taken by the city government.
“We can recommend for a no-build zone or danger zone in areas that were prone to too many landslides,” if that would be the recommendation of the MGB, Alcontin said.
