Court sets Naga landslide site visit to assess need for temporary envt’l protection order

Defense and prosecution counsels in the P4.5-billion class suit in relation to the Naga City landslide convene to agree the schedule of the ocular inspection at the ground zero of the landslide during the hearing for the issuance of the Temporary Environmental Protection Order. | Rosalie O. Abatayo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A Cebu City court has ordered for a site visit at the ground zero of the massive landslide in Naga City to assess if there is really a need to issue a Temporary Environmental Protection Order (Tepo).

In a hearing for the issuance of the Tepo on Thursday, April 4, the prosecution’s lead counsel, veteran environmental lawyer, Benjamin Cabrido Jr., argued that the court must see the state of the mountains in Naga City, particularly in the vicinity of the landslide area, in order for it to rightfully decide on their plea.

“As I’ve said, we can all lie inside the courtroom, but the mountains there will not lie,” Cabrido said in a separate interview after the hearing.

Branch 23 Presiding Judge Generosa Labra earlier issued a resolution denying the motion for the site visit before the hearing started. However, the judge reconsidered her resolution after hearing the arguments of the prosecution.

The court set the site visit on May 29, 2019.

Read more: Legal battle for Naga landslide victims starts

The prosecution has applied for the issuance of the Tepo, which aims to stop the quarry operations of Apo Land Quarry Corp. (ALQC) in the city’s mountains while the court proceedings on the main P4.5-billion environmental class suit is being heard.

The environmental class suit is lodged by some of the victims of the landslide, which claimed the lives of at least 70 individuals, against ALQC, Apo Cement Corp., Cemex Philippines Inc., Naga City government, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Central Visayas office (MGB-7), and the Cebu provincial government.

Read more: Capitol to ask court to drop Cebu province as defendant in the Naga landslide case

ALQC, the main raw material supplier of Apo Cement, is the firm that has mining rights on over 3,000 hectares of land in the mountains of Naga City and neighboring cities of Carcar, Toledo and San Fernando town.

The complainants of the case believe that the operations of ALQC is one of the factors that triggered the landslide.

ALQC has maintained that they already stopped operations since the landslide occurred in September 2018 pursuant to the orders of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and the cease and desist order issued by the Naga City government.

ALQC, however, was tasked by MGB Central Office and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to implement the hazard reduction plan in the landslide site. ALQC implements the hauling of the loose debris from the landslide and for the construction of infrastructure to protect the community from possibilities of further erosion.

ALQC: Developments in Naga landslide area are part of DENR-approved rehab plan

But Cabrido questioned the volume of soil being hauled from the site saying that the ALQC had been continuing their quarry operation “in the guise of the implementation of the hazard reduction plan.”/dbs