Naga families to be moved to safer area

THE 26 families displaced by Saturday’s landslide in Naga City, south Cebu will move to a nearby relocation site this month.

Naalad barangay captain Sandra Canalita said a private lot owner agreed to rent out 30 square meters for each family at a rate of P3 daily.

The lot, adjacent to the landslide area, is owned by the Hospicio de San Jose de Barili, a facility for senior citizens.

Naga City Mayor Valdemar Chiong said the P10,000 financial aid for each family will be distributed only when relocation starts to ensure that the money will be used for housing materials.

Naga City is one of three southern Cebu towns where some mountain barangays are highly prone to landslides based on a 2008 geohazard mapping assessment for Central Visayas.

The list includes southern towns of Dumanjug, Ronda, then and Talisay City in Metro Cebu and Balamban town in the west coast.
Argao town, the site of yesterday’s collapse of a limestone quarry, was not mentioned.

Eddie Llamedo, spokesman of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Visayas said the 2008 map of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau was 100 percent complete.

The map includes 19 landslide-prone barangays in Cebu City. These are barangays Lusaran, Binaliw, Guba, Budlaan, Malubog, Buot-Taup and Busay.
Six barangays in Naga City are also prone to landslides: Tagjaguimit, Alpaco, Balirong, Mayana, Naalad, and Cogon.

The others in Balamban (11 barangays), five each in Toledo City and Asturias town, 12 in Catmon, and one each in Dumanjug, Ronda, and Pinamungajan. Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya