Moving out of harm’s way

At the outset, it’s hard to persuade the 37 families or 150 persons living in two sitios in Boljoon town, southeastern Cebu, to abandon their homes despite the very real danger of being buried under rock and earth caused by the ongoing landslides.

In fact, there is no guarantee that the landslides would stop. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that five to seven hectares of land in Barangay Lower Becerril will be declared danger zones owing to the incessant earth movement there.

Whether it be soil erosion caused by a number of factors, such as declining forest cover, incessant rains or whatnot, when geologists declare certain areas as unfit for habitation, it’s very hard to argue with their logic unless one can present incontrovertible evidence refuting their findings.

And the families are in no position to contradict their findings yet are determined and insistent to stay, and it’s also quite easy and at the same time difficult to accept their refusal to move out.

It’s easy in that they will not abandon their homes and the properties they’ve acquired through the years in favor of a relocation site where they will start all over again.

One of the proposed relocation sites happened to be church property, but as in every case of relocation, the beneficiaries want more and that’s the perennial problem faced by local governments.

Not only do these families want houses, they want power and water and they want to be located near their workplaces or sources of livelihood, as well as the schools their children are enrolled in.

These conditions are in no way immediately answered, and to be honest, the provincial government and Boljoon officials can impose a forced evacuation with or without their consent if they wanted to.

And is the provincial government along with the Boljoon municipal government fully capable of conducting emergency evacuations of 150 people at a moment’s notice in case the landslides worsen?

That’s something these families should consider after deciding to stay put. Are they fully convinced that the landslides will be gone and they could go back to their way of living?

It’s easy for them to say that they are willing to accept the consequences of their decision until rocks and boulders fall down from the hills to crush their homes and end their lives in an instant.

While one prays that their lives be spared, the Boljoon case is instructive to the provincial government in terms of assessing which of Cebu’s terrain are in danger of being damaged by sinkholes, landslides and flooding.

It should give the province one more priority to consider and an impetus to relocate families away from danger zones to keep them out of these permanently.