GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 25 February) – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will construct a new road in coal-rich Barangay Ned, Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, where a portion of the national highway recently collapsed rendering it impassable to all kinds of vehicles.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said the agency will construct a new six-kilometer road from the damaged national highway in Sitio El Dulog, which cut traffic between the towns of Lake Sebu and Maitum, Sarangani until now.
“The road segment that collapsed cannot be used anymore because of the damage, it is dangerous to use,” he said in Filipino.
During his site visit on Tuesday, Dizon said they hope to build and finish the new road “within this year.”
However, a 1.1-km span of the proposed new road will encroach on the ancestral domain of the Indigenous Peoples (IPs), he noted.
Dizon said the DPWH will discuss with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples on how to move forward regarding the encroachment issue on the IP’s ancestral domain.
In 2013, the Taboli-Manobo S’daf Claimants Organization (TAMASCO) secured a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) covering the sitios of Datal Bonlangon, Tawan Dagat, Segowit, and Tuburan in Barangay Ned and Sitio Tulale in Barangay Sto. Nino in Bagumbayan, Sultan Kudarat.
Datu Dande Danyan, TAMASCO chairperson, said the collapsed road has “made life very difficult” for farmers in transporting their vegetable crops to lowland markets.
In a phone interview, Danyan said that several government and mining company officials have visited him following the destruction of the road “to pressure” him to allow the construction of the new road in their ancestral domain.
“I cannot decide on my own. It needs the collegial decision of the IPs within the ancestral domain,” he told MindaNews.
He stressed the need to undergo the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of the IPs before any development can take place in their ancestral domain.
Dizon assured that the IPs “will be compensated” should the new road construction encroach on their ancestral lands.
“It will be a huge inconvenience if the new road is not immediately constructed,” the secretary said.
Dizon said he was instructed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to immediately fix the road problem in Barangay Ned.
In the meantime, residents have been using an alternate road near the damaged highway, but accessible only for motorcycles, Ned village chief Allan Ikam Alam said.
Heavy rains triggered the landslides that caused reportedly about 400 meters of the national highway to collapse on February 13.
Several residents blamed the commercial coal mining activity for aggravating landslides in the area.
Coal mining operations have been ongoing in Barangay Ned for the past three years. Coal operating contracts were awarded by the Department of Energy to Daguma Agro Minerals Inc. (Dami), Sultan Energy Philippines Corp. (SEPC) and Bonanza Energy Resources Inc. (Beri).
San Miguel Corp. acquired the three companies in 2010. However, in separate disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024, it revealed the sale of Dami, SEPC and Beri to an undisclosed third party.
Local DAMI and SEPC officials refused to name who acquired them in the latest ownership change. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
