The local chief executive of Natonin in the Cordilleras Mayor Mateo Chiyawan said Monday he should not be blamed for the landslide that buried a Department of Public Works and Highways building in his town following Typhoon “Rosita’s” fury.
According to Chiyawan, the barangay where the building stood was not one of two villages identified as at risk from landslides by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
“If MGB would present me a map, saying whats’s safe and what’s not…If we have that map, maybe I would say that I was negligent in my function,” he said in an interview with ANC beamed nationwide.
The MGB in the Cordillera Autonomous Region had said it had issued a warning on possible landslides but Chiyawan denied receiving such notice.
He said he did not sign anything to approve the DPWH building’s construction, adding the department was supposed to be the expert in erecting structures.
Ruben Carandang, the director of the Office of Civil Defense in Cordilleras, had said the local government in Natonin “missed something” in its disaster preparedness duties.
Chiyawan had appealed to authorities to let local officials finish search and retrieval operations in the landslide site before throwing the blame.
At least 17 bodies have been recovered from the rubble, while at least 13 more are believed to be trapped.
