MALAYBALAY CITY, Philippines—Bukidnon Vice Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri said the areas hit by Monday’s landslide in Valencia City were the same areas where a government road expansion project was being undertaken.
He said the road project was in preparation for the opening of the Valencia City-San Fernando-Talaingod-Kapalong roads to Davao City undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The project began in late 2008 but was stopped eight months ago after President Aquino ordered an investigation on all ongoing projects in the country, he said.
“The stoppage of the construction left the highway without embankments, which rendered it weaker and vulnerable to these heavy and incessant rains in the province, so when the rains continued these areas gave way,” Zubiri said.
Records of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Malaybalay City showed that the rainfall in Valencia City in May this year reached 469 millimeters while it recorded only 73.6 mm in May last year.
“I have been living in Bukidnon for 38 years and this is the first time that I have experienced a rainfall that started late last year up until today. This rainfall is already 50 percent higher compared with the regular rainfall in the province. I believe that the incessant rains have caused the landslide that struck barangays in Valencia City and not logging activities,” Zubiri said.
Illegal logging
Zubiri said Bukidnon has an ordinance prohibiting any logging activity, except for the Bukidnon Forests Incorporated which is a joint-project of New Zealand and the Philippines.
“But this project will soon end as there are only few hectares left for the project to complete. There are some illegal logging activities but these have been controlled already,” he said.
Zubiri said the province is not only struck with landslides but also with the flooding in different parts of Valencia and Malaybalay.
“We have been distributing assistance to flood victims since May this year, and with the continuous rains I see more people might get affected. But we have already issued warnings to residents living in high-risk disaster areas to vacate and be relocated,” Zubiri said.
In October last year, a family of eight lost five of its members in a landslide in Barangay Lupiagan in Sumilao town. Only the father and two other children survived.
Search continues
Meanwhile, rescue teams continued searching for more bodies believed buried beneath mud and debris in landslide-hit villages of Valencia City.
Teams, however, do not know exactly how many bodies they were looking for.
Earlier, witnesses claimed that about 20 persons buried by the landslide. The alleged victims were passengers of a jeepney that stopped plying its route when the first landslide happened. The jeepney passengers then took the motorcyles-for-hire (habal-habal) and were reportedly traversing the dirt road when the landslide struck.
Valencia City Mayor Leandro Catarata, however, said there were no more inquiries about persons who might be among those buried by the landslide.
Dr. Vincent Raguro, member of the provincial health team, said they were looking for four more bodies that might have been swept 150 feet down a ravine.
Despite not having the exact number of bodies to look for, the rescue groups continued their search based on claims of witnesses.
The Social Welfare office in the province said five bodies have so far been recovered in the landslide-hit villages of Lumbayao and Tongan-tongan. The victims were identified as Segundina Lagunay, 68, and her daughter Marites Lagunay Cereno, 40; Sheryl Sadsad, 27; Joy Culemar, 7; and Roque Santillan, 6.
The Lagunays were residents of Misamis Oriental while Sadsad was from in Musuan in Maramag town. Sadsad”s husband, Reynante, survived the landslide. The children were residents of Barangay Tongan-tongan.
The city government of Valencia had erroneously “re-counted” the two children in their report last Tuesday.
Antonio Lagunay, the husband of Segundina, said there was nothing he could do but accept the tragic fate of his wife and daughter.
“It was their first time to visit San Fernando but they failed to reach their destination only to return to us lifeless,” Antonio said.
The victims received financial assistance from the province and the National Disaster Coordinating Council on Wednesday in Valencia City.
Drive with extreme caution
The four-kilometer highway was re-opened to traffic on Tuesday evening, but motorists were warned to drive with extreme caution.
Valencia City Mayor Leandro Catarata said road repair efforts were continuing to stabilize the slopes so normal traffic can resume.
Barangay Lumbayao in Valencia City is one of the 54 landslide-prone areas identified by the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau in the province. These landslide areas had been identified to experience moderate to high landslide occurrence especially when rainfall goes abnormally high. Heavy rains continued to pour in June in most parts of Bukidnon resulting in to landslide and floods.
Julius Parian, the acting Environment and Resources officer in the province, said that barangay officials and the local government were informed two years ago of the situation of the areas in order to relocate the residents there.
“There is a crack in the area which makes it landslide-prone. We have informed the local officials including the barangays to possibly relocate residents within the identified disaster-risk area,” Parian said.
Fortunately, the victims were not residents of the area. The areas affected are not populated but crops are grown there.