At what point should we hold public officials accountable for their failure to forcefully evacuate people who are in danger zones during strong typhoons like “Ompong”? In view of what happened in Itogon, Benguet at the height of the typhoon last Saturday, this is a fair question to ask.
The problem is, there is probably no set of criteria on which actions could be based if responsible public officials fail to implement a mandatory evacuation order. The next question is which agency of government should be authorized to formulate the rules and regulations to be followed. Should it be the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Center or the Department of the Interior and Local Government?
In the case of the landslide tragedy that happened in Itogon, where a total of approximately 100 people were killed to include those still missing and presumed dead, the people refused to move when told to transfer to safer evacuation centers. It is, of course, unfortunate that the officials who went to those people did not insist that they leave. Had they done so, the catastrophe could have been prevented. As the term suggests, mandatory should mean exactly that.
The mayor, in many media interviews, tried to justify their actions by saying that the area where the landslide happened together with the bunkhouse which was also a place of worship and where the people took refuge to escape the fury of the typhoon is still owned by Benguet Corporation. I fail to understand however, why even if the property is still owned by Benguet Corporation, the authorities did not insist on evacuation. Anyone who is familiar with the topography of the Itogon municipality and the Benguet mining concession would know that there are really very few flat and safe places wherein dwellings can be constructed. Most are very mountainous as some of the TV footages are showing especially where the landslide happened. Because of population pressure, people are constructing their houses in 45-degree slopes and some cases, even steeper slopes. And because the surrounding mountains are heavily tunneled because of the long years of mining, the mountains cannot hold a lot of water which makes them weak and dangerous when it rains not to mention the damage done by the small-scale miners.
People in the area did not also consider that before Ompong, it had been raining every day in Baguio and surrounding municipalities for more than a month. The people living in those mountainous slopes should have been forced to evacuate even before Ompong. We still do not know how much rain that Ompong dumped in Baguio and the surrounding towns, but it must have been considerable because the rains simply continued to pour non-stop for more than a day making the roads like rivers. Living in the mountainous Benguet Corporation mining concession area is always a risk because building regulations are not enforced strictly. When the mine was still owned and operated by the Americans, building regulations were enforced more strictly. No one could simply build a house in non-designated areas. When the mine was taken over by Filipinos, these regulations were somewhat relaxed and as Benguet Corporation continued to scale down its mining operations, relatives of employees and pocket miners started to invade the place until people started to build houses in very steep slopes that we see today.
We could say that the killer landslide last Saturday was a tragedy waiting to happen. What should be done now is not only to suspend and stop all the small mining operations but also move the people living on very dangerous steep slopes to safer places. If not, this kind of tragedy will surely happen again. Secretary Roy Cimatu is right in putting a stop to small mining operations. The damage to the environment as a result of pocket mining far outweighs the economic benefits derived from it. Mountains are weakened and rivers become polluted due to mercury. The government, however, will have to see to it that the order is enforced strictly because it should expect a lot of resistance from the small-scale miners. It is difficult to police their compliance unless every tunnel is visited and closed and this is not easy to do. Secretary Cimatu, during his press conference, urged those pocket miners to go back to their provinces but it would seem to me that these people will most certainly not comply.
Whether the DENR could eventually come out with viable and balanced regulation to protect the environment while at the same time allowing people to earn a living, is something that we have to wait and see. It will probably be difficult to come out with something that will please everyone.
The problem in Baguio and the surrounding towns is that they have become the magnet for people coming from Mt. Province, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Apayao because of lack of opportunities in these provinces. The consequence of this is that people will continue to build houses in mountainous slopes making them prone to more landslides during typhoons and the monsoon rains. People should therefore expect the remaining mountains to be dotted with more houses rather than pine trees. The sight will be obviously ugly by international standards especially if the city is being marketed as the summer capital of the country. Yes, people still go to the city because of the comfortable temperature all-year round but other than that, the city has lost its old allure.
Let’s hope that the unfortunate tragedy will spur local officials to strive harder and plan better so that such tragedy will not happen again in such a scale.
