New MGB-7 director to focus on landslide probe

THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Visayas (MGB-7) has a new acting director replacing the former director Loreto Alburo, who was one of the four officials of suspended four days ago by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as the government starts investigation on the landslide that hit Naga City on Sept. 20.

Engineer Efren Carido, officially assumed on Wednesday as the acting MGB-7 director, said he would focus more overseeing the investigation on the landslide, and reassessing the geohazard maps of the entire Central Visayas to prevent a similar disaster from happening in the future.

“And along with that, we will check the safety of the communities around and near these landslide-prone areas,” said Carido, who was formerly assigned in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Engineer Armando Malicse, MGB-7 mine safety environment and social development chief, said that threats on landslide, especially in upland or mountainous areas, would alway be present.

“Generally, there are (threats of landslide). But it differs on the sites,” Malicse said during yesterday’s press briefing of the Incident Management Team (IMT) of the landslide in Barangay Tinaan, Naga City.

He said that whether the area would be a quarry site or not, landslide threats would always be present, which could be triggered by natural or manmade calamities.

“Not necessarily quarry areas, look what happened to Guinsaugon. It’s not a mining area, but more than a thousand died (on that landslide),” he added.