Massive slide puts lives of Benguet town folks in peril

OCD pushes relocation of residents 

BAKUN, Benguet – Folks in Barangay Poblacion here sought help of provincial officials after an estimated 40 hectare of its land eroded last August 23, which went unnoticed.

Following this, the Office of Civil Defense in the Cordillera urged relocation of  residents at the town proper here due to threats of landslides.

OCD Cordillera director Andrew Alex Uy said the town proper has been declared a geological hazard area since the onslaught of Typhoon Gener in 2012.

Uy said at least 100 houses were affected by landslides caused by the recent Typhoon Ineng and 20 houses during Typhoon Gener.

He said the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council and the municipal government should provide a site for the relocation of the affected families.

This, as town chief Jose Dokipen and his officials felt elated after seeing the media arrive in their Barangay before noon. “We have been left in the dark even after informing the office of the municipal mayor regarding our plight days after half of our town sunk, we thought nobody cared about us,” Dokipen said.

The massive landslide went viral after a local citizen, Edmund Angluben, posted on Facebook, a video of the actual sinking of the soil affecting houses and photos of residents dismantling materials of their homes affected or near the vast sinking area.

Immediately, local media people saw the video and travelled to the area the following day.

Dokipen said that the area in Sitio Bauadi, Barangay Poblacion had already been declared as having a High Susceptibility to Landslides by the MGB Geo Hazard map, especially after Typhoon Pepeng in 2012, where seven houses collapsed after a landslide in the same area.

Several home owners who found that their homes were within high susceptibility to landslide area had voluntarily abandoned their homes, while only a few remained as they have still nowhere else to relocate their homes, said Dokipen.

Councilman Celestino Bautista said that, after the incident last August 23, they informed the office of the municipal mayor of Bakun regarding the landslide on Monday and repeated it on following days, however, no news were heard with regards to the incident in their area.

“We had no electricity since Typhoon Ineng, and road cuts rendered us isolated for several days, while residents needing to replenish their supplies had to walk for hours to Buguias to purchase or re supply,” Celestino added.

The two houses that collapsed along with the landslides, owned by Maximo Macasling, and Genelyn Decoyna had already vacated before the incident relocating to their respective relatives.

“There were no casualties as those affected were relocated beforehand, but the damage to their properties are permanent and irreplaceable, we are seeking help from the government on how to help our town mates who are affected,” Celestino added.