PDRRMO probes cracks in Tuburan mountain

Tuburan town located in the northwest of Cebu island.

NOT wanting to suffer the fate of Naga City, local government units have gone conscious of risks surrounding their localities, an official of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) said Thursday.

A team from the PDRRMO, barangay officials and local DRRM officers of Tuburan town have conducted a site inspection in Barangay Daanlungsod following reports of cracks on a mountain overlooking the Daanlungsod Elementary School.

Rhee Telen Jr., information management officer of PDRRMO, said they received a request from Tuburan LGU and officials of Barangay Daanlungsod to inspect the area for fear that the cracks would lead to a landslide.

A photo posted on Facebook by a certain Adonis Fernandez showed loose soil and cracks on a cliff of the mountain.

“Mao ni ang scenario sa babaw sa Daanlungsod Elementary School sa Barangay Daanlungsod, Tuburan Cebu. Ayaw intawon itugot nga malubong ming buhi,” Fernandez said in the post which was published on October 2.

Upon their inspection, Telen said there was an ongoing site development in the area for the construction of a technical vocational training center and the loose soil found in the photos came from the landscape development and was not a product of erosion or landslide.

The about two-hectare property that is being developed, according to Telen, is the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) training center that is a joint project of the Tuburan LGU and the Provincial government.

He added that the cracks shown were caused by the rain water trail that hardened.

However, Telen said they already coordinated with the municipal and provincial engineering office on the mitigating measures to ensure that the residential area and the school located about 100 meters beneath the site development will not be at risk.

He said that the LGU has also sent a letter to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau to request for a hazard assessment in the area.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) is still continuing with their assessments of small scale quarry sites in Cebu.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III earlier suspended all small scale quarry in the regions after the landslide in Naga City.

Penro Chief Jason Lozano said on Thursday that they have already inspected 18 out of 35 sites in Cebu.