Rice terraces vulnerable to landslides, says geologist

BAGUIO CITY—Government needs to address monsoon-triggered landslides that destroyed much of the rice terraces in Ifugao, but a government geologist said the solution must not lead to further destruction of the 2,000-year-old relic.

Fay Apil, chief geologist of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Cordillera office, said the National Geohazard Map has revealed the inherent susceptibility of the terraces to landslides due to the composition of the mountain rocks on which the terraces have been carved centuries ago.

Apil said the angle of the terrace slopes and the degree of run-off water discharged by recent storms suggest that landslides would have occurred along the rice terraces before.

“However, the rice terrace erosions documented there this year are the only ones we have on record,” Apil said on Tuesday.

Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. is launching next week a new Save the Rice Terraces campaign with Sen. Francis Pangilinan, in the light of the rapid deterioration of rice terrace farms brought about by the series of slides in the towns of Mayoyao, Hungduan, Kiangan and Banaue, all in Ifugao.

Baguilat said the province needs to raise more than P100 million to restore the terraces and revive the economy for 2,000 farmers there.

The Ifugao government had inherited the responsibility of preserving the terraces after Malacañang downgraded and then abolished a national agency overseeing their preservation. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon