Officials and other stakeholders in Davao de Oro hold a ground breaking ceremony for the resettlement site in Barangay Calabcab, Maco town on June 14, 2024 for residents of landslide-hit Barangay Masara. Photo from Municipality of Maco Facebook page
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 03 July) – At least three new resettlement areas are being built for residents in landslide-hit Barangay Masara in Maco, Davao de Oro, an official said Wednesday.
Joseph Randy Loy, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council – Davao de Oro, said the new residential areas are located in Barangays Calabcab, Panibasan, and Elizalde all in Maco town.
He said they are complying the documents to build a safe residential community for the Masara landslide victims from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
Last February 6, a landslide hit the mining village of Masara at night time, killing 98 people. It forced residents in Masara, including from some neighboring barangays, to evacuate due to the threats of succeeding landslide and flashflood.
“Because of the incident, most of the [housing] constructions karon [in Davao de Oro], nangayo jud aning mga certifications. We always assist pod sa [stakeholders and LGUs],” Loy said in a press conference Wednesday here for the National Disaster Resilience Month regional ceremony.
However, Loy admitted that it was hard to find safe areas for resettlement in Masara, as most of the village’s land area is vulnerable to landslide due to its slope and topography.
In an earlier statement following the landslide, the MGB noted that after “successive geohazard mapping and assessments, results consistently showed that the Masara area is highly susceptible to landslides.”
“Thus, the department recommended the immediate relocation of the community of Barangay Masara and for the area to be a “No Build Zone,” it said.
Loy said the Inter-agency Task Force for Masara Relocation, which was formed a month after the incident, is currently focused on complying the requirements with the MGB and Phivolcs.
The certifications include geohazard assessments, building permits, and environmental permits, among others.
Maco Mayor Arthur Voltaire Rimando told MindaNews on Monday that all the identified settlement areas are “safer” than Barangay Masara.
“The ongoing construction, they will not be approved if we don’t have the MGB assessment,” Rimando said in Cebuano.
“But we will follow if there are further recommendations from the MGB,” Rimando added. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
