Cebu City disaster agency to get Mayor Rama’s clearance to enforce transfer of mountain barangay residents from danger zone

Whether they like it or not, they will have to go.

The Cebu City government will be forced to exercise its police power to effect the forcible evacuation of residents from a landslide-prone area in sitio Sandayong in barangay Buhisan, the city’s head of the disaster coordinating office said yesterday.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said they will ask Mayor Michael Rama to issue an order so that they could carry out the forced evacuation as soon as possible.

According to the local disaster agency as well as the DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, a portion of sitio Sandayong where over 40 families live is in “imminent danger” should heavy rains or an earthquake occur.

Two cracks were found in the area when personnel from the CDRRMC, the MGB as well as the barangay conducted an ocular inspection. The city disaster agency on Saturday met with the residents and explained to them the need for them to move out, but the officials’ call has been largely ignored.

“Until now (yesterday evening), the families are still in the area. No one came to spend the night at the sports complex,” barangay secretary Nena Rabadon told Cebu Daily News.

Buhisan barangay captain Gremar Barete met the residents and assured them that barangay tanods will watch over their houses when they move out, but most found the solution unacceptable.

Barete said they could not forcibly evacuate the residents without a clear order from the Mayor’s Office.

Councilor Tumulak said they will have a definite plan within the day.

“Tomorrow (today) we will decide. We can’t compromise their safety. But the mayor will have to decide. Together with the barangay captain, we will submit a recommendation to the mayor to enforce police power on the residents,” Tumulak told CDN.

Tumulak said they will have to get the help of the City’s Division for the Welfare of the Urban Poor (DWUP) to attend to the relocation needs of residents.

“We will also tap DWUP and meet them for possible relocation. For those that want to relocate, the city has designated a relocation site. But at least we were able to give them notice in advance,” Tumulak added.

The councilor refused to give a timeframe on when the forced evacuation will take effect.

That depends on the mayor, he said.

Tumulak said among their plans for the affected area will be the blasting of certain areas to eliminate the threat of landslides on residents living at the mountainside and at the foot of the mountain.

“We will have to tap experts on how to destroy the area with cracks to eliminate the threat. We will ask help from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the city’s mining regulatory board and the office of the civil defense also,” Tumulak said.

Cebu Daily News tried to contact captain Barete for comments and updates but calls and text messages were not returned. /Jose Santino S. Bunachita, Correspondent