Friday, May 23, 2008 [ sunstar.com.ph ]
By Carlo P. Mallo
A HOMEOWNERS association in Davao City has questioned the continuing development works on a portion of the Shrine Hills in Matina.
In his letter to the City Planning and Development Office, Ma-a Federation of Homeowners Association's environmental watch committee chair Jimmy Olegario claimed these developments put Ma-a "communities at grave risk."
Olegario said the "the spot hazard investigation report... discusses a major rotational landslide of July 4, 2000. The engineer's report appears quite reliable, unbiased, fair and, untainted by any personal interest."
Olegario was referring to a report made by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Southern Mindanao geologist Maria Luisa Jacinto in 2000.
Such report, according to Olegario, "emphasized strongly that future dangerous landslides would occur."
The homeowners association, citing Jacinto's report, said it is also imperative to order the immediate stoppage of all quarrying activities within Shrine Hills.
The same statement stressed the importance of informing those engaged in quarrying activities as well as those living within the vicinity of the danger of further mass movement especially during heavy rains.
"Residents near the foot of the slopes should be warned of the possibility of further landslides and debris flow," it added.
The homeowners association also questioned why developers are allowed to construct and other clearing activities when DENR has already warned strongly against changing the natural beds of streams, cutting and quarrying the hillside, and clearing the land in its reports last 2000 and 2006.
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