Naga high school in danger zone

The roof top of a high school building. There’s a backhoe commissioned by the Apo Cement Corporation which started to remove or bring down the unstable high walled-slope after a landslide last July 31 in Barangay Pangdan, Naga City, Cebu. More than 700,000 cubic materials of soil materials will be taken out to stabilize the slope and eventually declare the area safe. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Classes were suspended after a landslide occured on Thursday near a public high school in Naga City, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to recommend closure of the school.

The Don Emilio Canonigo Memorial National High School in barangay Pangdan with 345 students and 16 teachers was found to be 30 meters from an active landslide area.

The area is unsafe, said Loreto Alburo, regional director of the DENR Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-7).

“Our geohazards mapping and assessment team led by chief geologist Al Emil Berador came with a landslide susceptibility rating of ‘very high’ or ‘critical’ which means that this an active landslide zone,” Alburo said.

The MGB-7 wrote Canonigo High principal Nicandra Arañas and told her not to resume classes.
A three-member team from MGB-7 inspected the area and noted that the place has an old landslide path with a canal in between two hills.

The affected area of 1.3 hectares has a very steep slope and the soil type is mostly tuff which is a highly fractured material.

The area is around 70 meters from the highway of the Naga-Uling road.

Last Thursday’s landslide was only minor, with small rocks falling but the area is still hazardous. Continuous rains may be a factor.

Barangay councilman Alvin Alinsonorin received the MGB’s advisory with recommendations, which include slope stabilization measures; continuous monitoring and warning residents to stay vigilant.

The area must be cordoned off to prevent people from gettint near and residents living along the south wall must be evacuated when heavy rains fall.

The DENR was alerted after a phone call from Ariel Lazarte of Apo Cement Corporation (APC) last Thursday.

On the same day, the APC deployed a backhoe to start moving down the unstable slope.

APC sent out one backhoe and one bulldozer to speed up the slope stabilization measures by cutting work and removing unstable soil materials. Works are expected to be completed by Wednesday.