About a month ago, the House of Representatives passed an urgent resolution calling for a formal investigation into what was reported by some members as serious violations of the No-Build-Zone policy enforced by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, or MGB, in several barangays in Davao de Oro province.
The Congress members who visited the site where a massive landslide took place in Barangay Masara expressed their anger and vowed to make those responsible answer for the violations that resulted in the deaths of over a hundred people who were obviously allowed to build houses in areas that had been declared no-build-zones by the MGB.
As it turned out, in addition to Masara, two other barangays in Davao de Oro were also declared no-build zones by MGB and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources because they are prone to landslides.
Masara, Panoraon and Bukal were declared no-build zones following a landslide in 2006 in Masara, where 24 residents perished.
At the time, close to 300 Masara residents were evacuated and resettled in safer barangays through the joint efforts of the provincial government, the Maco town government, and Gawad Kalinga under Tony Meloto.
The latest landslide, which occurred on 6 February in Masara, showed that the local government had tolerated building houses in mudslide-prone areas despite the ban. But what was really contemptible and shocking was the revelation that a barangay hall was constructed right next to where the 2006 landslide had occurred. That may have been the beacon for settlers to build homes in the Masara no-build zone.
While they are at it, the congressional probers might look into the information that barangay halls were also erected in the two other barangays that had been declared no-build zones. The estimated cost of each building was reportedly P7-million.
Following the recent Masara tragedy was the usual blame game. A spokesman of the provincial government claimed that those who were relocated by the previous provincial administration had returned to the site of the mudslide. This was denied, however, by then Gov. Arturo “Chiongkee” Uy, who said that those who were evacuated and given houses in the safe relocation area were still in their new homes. The former governor backed the congressional probe to determine who had lured people to build houses in the no-build-zone.
Indeed, a formal investigation should be conducted, but we do not know why the much-ballyhooed congressional inquiry has not commenced. Congressman Erwin Tulfo, who spearheaded the call for a probe, seemed to have sidelined the issue. He and his colleagues who inspected the calamity site had vowed to launch a formal probe with some sense of urgency, but it looked like the whole thing was just mere drama.
What should be investigated, too, are not only the blatant violations of the no-build-zone edict but also the destruction of segments of the national highway, which collapsed following days of incessant rains, which revealed the substandard construction by the DPWH and its contractors. The road’s concrete blocks collapsed like dominoes, in the process exposing their thinness and the three small steel rods that held them that easily gave way. The collapse of the concrete blocks was a virtual exhibit of how graft and corruption are committed.
Congress must also look into how the provincial government is addressing the relocation of the evacuees.
In Masara alone, weeks have passed, but the evacuees are still housed in schools and temporary shelters.
We were told that the next best thing the provincial government could do was to house the evacuees in tents that have yet to be put up.
The national government should come to the rescue since the provincial leadership appears not to be on top of the situation. It is also not up to emergencies like the floods and mudslides that hit the province.
Moreover, the delay in the congressional investigation has raised apprehensions that it has been consigned to the dustbin of forgotten issues. This is as tragic as the loss of lives in Masara, something that erodes the trust of the people in an idle and inefficient government.
