PALACAPAO, QUEZON, Bukidnon (MindaNews / 14 January) — There was a sigh of relief from 51-year-old Thelma Jimenez, a resident here, once she heard that the road connecting Davao City and Bukidnon, which collapsed October 18 last year, was finally open.

At 1 p.m., around two to three hours after officials permanently opened the partially completed detour road, she was still not aware that the road was finally opened. 

In the holidays, officials opened the road temporarily to allow smoother traffic to and from Davao City, but elected to close it down eventually. 

Jimenez said her vegetable business suffered a lot since the closure. 

Their family used to earn around ₱500 to ₱600 per day, with passing vehicles making a stop as passengers avail of vegetables sold cheap. 

“Hay salamat, kay na-zero gyud mi diri (I’m very thankful, as we experienced earning nothing here),” Jimenez said. 

Before the road collapsed, vehicles would line up in front of vegetable stands such as the one that Jimenez operated in this portion of Palacapao — gruesomely called “Sitio Crasher” because the area is supposedly accident prone — located 30 minutes from the landslide portion of Palacapao.

For Jimenez’s family, the amount they used to earn was enough to get their family to survive from day to day, with life simple in Crasher. 

For Marialyn John, 45, eatery owner and mother of two, it was vegetables that helped their food business survive. 

Unlike before, when there were more truck and bus drivers stopping by their shop at Sitio Ladian in Marilog District, the landslide slashed daily income by 90%.

Marialyn’s eatery used to be popular to passing drivers because of a regular supply of native chicken soup, usually enjoyed in the cold Buda morning air. 

Families like those of Marialyn were forced to take in high interest loans from local providers and look for business opportunities elsewhere.

For Marialyn, it was selling vegetables at the bagsakan (drop off) area in Bankerohan, two to three hours away, where she could sell relatively cheaper vegetable products that helped supplement their income.

“We used to earn up to ₱10,000 a day, but now it’s just ₱1,000. With expenses and loan payments piling up, it was hard to look for other sources of income. 

Officials said that the collapse of the road, which was brought about by seepage under the zigzag road structure, brought about at least ₱40 million in daily economic loss. 

At Wednesday’s inspection, Public Works and Highways Secretary Vince Dizon, who landed via Blackhawk chopper at the nearby DPWH helipad, met Quezon Mayor Pablo Lorenzo, Bukidnon Governor Rogelio Neil Roque, and Senator Miguel Zubiri. 

Before a press conference for Davao and Bukidnon-based media, Dizon announced it would be proper to open the road, following the advice of Japanese consultants Katahira. 

Dizon could not immediately recall the amount the agency was spending for the consultation, but said that the solutions were out-bidding the cost in terms of economic losses. 

The repair of the landslide portion, for example, costs only around ₱46 million.

The asphalting project, which will commence this week and end by mid-January, costs ₱20 million. (See separate story.)

Dizon said it was already safe to use the roads.

Virginia G. Batocail, DPWH district engineer, said at the press conference that the project was already 90% to 95% completed.

In an interview with MindaNews, Jerson Limocon, project engineer for the contractor that built the detour road (JT Gamolo Construction), said that the majority of the project involved moving the road away from the cliffside and improving the drainage systems through gabion and canal systems. 

Limocon said it did not help that there were natural spring systems that existed under the entire project, and that water deposits naturally contributed to the weakening of the previously constructed project. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)