Landslide injures 2, buries Benguet junk shop

POLICE cordon off the site of a landslide last Tuesday in La Trinidad, Benguet, that injured two persons working in a scrap depot in a rock quarrying area. RICHARD BALONGLONG/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

BAGUIO CITY—A landslide on Tuesday buried a roadside salvage and recycling shop in La Trinidad, Benguet, injuring two persons, reports from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in the Cordillera said.

Feliriano Balcac, 54, and his 74-year-old mother, Eliza, were pulled out of the debris by residents along Kilometer 3 of the Baguio-La Trinidad Road at about 4 p.m. They were taken to Pines City Doctors’ Hospital here.

Abner Villanueva, the spokesperson of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Cordillera, said government geologists have started assessing the landslide area to determine if other houses and structures nearby are at risk.

OCD reports said two roads have been closed in the Cordillera, but it was not due to bad weather and heavy rains.

The Sabangan Bridge along the Baguio-Bontoc Road in Mt. Province remains closed for repairs, while only one lane has been opened to traffic along the Sabangan section of the Mt. Province-Calanan-Pinukpuk due to another repair work.

In Bulacan, classes resumed in Obando and Hagonoy towns and in the City of Malolos on Wednesday after floodwaters subsided and rains stopped.

Operators of Ipo Dam also closed the two gates they opened on Tuesday to relieve the reservoir of excess rainwater.

The provincial disaster risk reduction and management council (PDRRMC) said water level at Ipo was recorded at 100.06 meters above sea level on Wednesday, which was below its 101 masl spilling level.

Reservoir level at the Angat Dam, located upstream of Ipo, was 187.98 masl, still below its 212 masl spilling level. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon