Soil erosion in Calamba, Busay

CEBU, Philippines — The continuous downpour in Cebu City resulted in the collapse of an area in Upper San Roque, Barangay Calamba and eroded soil in Barangay Busay which were both assessed to be vulnerable to landslides.

Following the continuous downpour in Cebu City since last week, Councilor Jerry Guardo, head of the committee on infrastructure, alongside the Office of the Building Official (OBO) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), conducted inspections in the areas considered as vulnerable to landslides yesterday.

The first one was the area in Barangay Calamba, where a riprap collapsed at dawn Tuesday. During the ocular inspection of Guardo, at around 12 noon more portions of in the area collapsed in which he added a classic example of the consequences when the three-meter easement is violated.

"Ang position sa property, hampag gyud sya, directly hit gyud sya sa current (of the river), maigo gyud sya..besides makita nato naay mga bato nga nangabungkag didto sa ubos, in other words ang pagka design niya, stone masonry…it is not engineered-designed," said Guardo.

Guardo added that the incident is a translation on why the massive clearing of the three-meter easement was an intensive effort of Task Force Gubat sa Baha to mitigate the flooding.

Guardo also said that the area is considered a danger zone having the whole riprap wall standing with weak foundation.

Meanwhile, Guardo, alongside OBO and DPWH has also conducted an ocular inspection to the area in sitio Maaslom, Lower Busay following the observed movement of the soil that was destroyed by a landslide.

With the current situation, Guardo revealed that the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) is set to convene in order to declare the area under the state of calamity and make it a no-build zone.

This after the DPWH has sought the help of the committee with regards to their ongoing project of slope protection in the area.

"Unfortunately ang ilang concern, dunay kining balay diri nga nidahilig na, nagpagahi ba, di sya ganahan ipaguba iyang balay so mga tulo na ka bulan wala jud naka resume og trabaho ang contractor," said Guardo.

This accordingly raised concerns to the city government considering that the road is an upward slope with no other diversion routes available.

Aside from this, the opposite side of the road has also eroded in which Guardo added made the whole stretch more vulnerable to landslides.

"Kuyawan ta ba na simbako og dili nila madali ilang pag trabaho, basin magsumpay na ni ang erosion, kana dako dako pa na na trabaho," said Guardo.

According to Engineer II Rozien Rivera of OBO, their office has already served a notice to vacate the area last 2018. He added they will be serving another notice of Dangerous Structure to the only house that remains standing around the slope.

"Kay delikado gyud og magpuyo pa sya dira kay ang atong soil mo erode gyud sya..kana ra sya usa diha na balay," he said.

On their initial findings, the house, which is found to be a private-owned lot, has been occupied since 2018, which pushes the office to process legal grounds that would prevent the owner from occupying onwards.

"As per sa DPWH ug ang contractor, nagka settle na na sila, nabayran na na sila para papahawaon," said Rivera. — (FREEMAN)