‘Shrine Hills, tragedy waiting to happen’
DAVAO CITY – An environmental group here has warned that the landslide that occurred at Shrine Hills in Matina district here could just be the start of what could be a worse accident in the area.
“Shrine Hills is a tragedy waiting to happen,” said Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) Executive Director Chinkie Pelino-Golle as she scored the “poor regulations and monitoring mechanisms of the local governed on the new developments” in the area.
The upper portion of the hill collapsed Thursday last week that resulted in the closure of the Diversion Road, which is a vital thoroughfare in this city.
The closure caused a monstrous traffic jam Friday that was still being experienced early this week until the northbound traffic from Bangkal to Panacan was re-opened on Tuesday.
The landslide was said to have been triggered by a heavy downpour, constructions of buildings, and on-going road expansion being undertaken by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) along the Diversion Road.
“The LGU could have regularly monitored the area and ensured the strict regulation of construction activities at the top,” she said.
Golle expressed dismay over apparent disregard of the warning on geological hazards in the Shrine Hills issued by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) 11 declaring it as “vulnerable to landslide and erosion.”
“Another issue is the DPWH which triggered vulnerable side of Shrine Hills when it bulldozed the area in which we do not know if they really coordinated with the LGU or know about the geological hazards,” she added.
City Planning and Development Office (CPDO) head Ivan Cortez told reporters during the one-hour session break at the City Council of Davao Tuesday that DPWH was “partly to blame” for not coordinating with the city government when its team started implementing the road widening last May.
Cortez said all development projects have been put on hold around Shrine Hills, as his office has already stopped issuing locational clearances to individuals applying for building permits because the area “is highly susceptible to landslide and erosion.”
Thea Shaira Mae Peguit, geologist II at the DPWH 11, pointed to the existing developments uphill, including, among others, a building owned by Seventh Day Adventist Church and a waterway, that added weight on the already weakened ground that was said to be part of an “old landslide debris.”
“Aside from the excavation that the department has undertaken, I believe the primary reason for landslide is because of the developments which have occurred outside our project, above our slope,” she said.