Landslide destroys homes in Casili

CEBU, Philippines – Two houses in Casili Hills Subdivision in Barangay Casili, Mandaue City were damaged when a landslide occurred around 5 p.m. last Friday.

Another house which lies in Montana Heights Subdivision in the adjacent Barangay Cubacub is also at risk as huge stones and rocks where the house is situated also started to fall.

Felix Suico, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, in an interview said the kitchen of the houses owned by Warren Losente and James Chiclas were damaged when huge rocks fell on the two concerete houses.

The house of Jason Almagro on top of the Montana Heights Subdivision is also at risk as rocks are starting to roll over.

Suico said that when he was informed by Casili barangay captain Paterno Cabatingan of the incident last Friday, he immediately advised the owner of the affected houses and their neighbors to temporarily vacate the place but the owners were hesistant to do so.

Because of this, Suico tasked the barangay tanods and barangay disaster brigade of barangays Casili and Cubacub to closely monitor the area for fear that the landslide will continue.

As of yesterday morning, according to Suico , a representative of the Sta. Lucia Realty, the developer of the Casili Hills subdivisions, have already talked with the homeowners and mitigating measures have been set up.

Suico has blamed the incident to the continuous rain brought about by tropical storm Seniang.

He also asked barangay officials of landslide prone barangays in the city such as Cubacub, Casili, Tawason, Paknaan, Tingub and Paknaan to closely monitor their respective barangays for possible landslides.