DAVAO CITY – Gov. Dorothy Gonzaga has vowed to implement the no-build zone policy in the identified geohazard areas not just in Barangay Masara in Maco town but also other parts of Davao de Oro.
BARANGAY Masara in Maco, Davao de Oro, is a no-build zone since 2008. (OCD)
Gonzaga admitted that Masara has long been declared as a no-build zone amid its history of landslides.
The governor issued the statement following the deadly landslide that swathed Zone 1 in Barangay Masara and left 54 dead as of 7 p.m. Sunday, February 11.
Seventeen more bodies were retrieved from the landslide site with 63 persons still missing and 32 survivors.
Responders remain hopeful that three-year old girl, who was rescued on Friday, February 9, is not the last survivor of the landslide.
Over 1,000 families are still in evacuation centers. At least 55 houses were said to be buried under the dirt and debris.
Search and rescue teams are taking shifts in the ongoing search, rescue, and retrieval operations at the nine-hectare landslide site.
Barangay Masara, with a population of over 1,000 people, is one of the host communities of the gold mine firm Apex Mining Co. that holds two Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) based on Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) records.
MGB-Davao Geosciences Division chief Beverly Bravante confirmed that Masara is one of the barangays in the province that has long been tagged as no build zones since 2008.
Gonzaga said that residents left the area following the landslide in 2008 but she refused to comment why they were allowed to resettle in the area.
Since she assumed office in 2022, the governor said she has been reminding mayors and concerned agencies to regularly monitor high-risk areas due to a series of earthquakes.
Gonzaga added that it has been her priority of her administration to find relocation sites for communities in high-risk areas.
“In fact, we have already identified relocation sites for New Bataan and Nabunturan. But we are still facing difficulties in finding a relocation site for Maco because the MGB has no definite recommendation yet as to where these communities will be relocated.”
The massive landslide on February 6 was not the first that happened in the first-class town of 83,000 people.
In 2007, at least 10 people were killed in a landslide in Masara due to heavy rains. A year later, 24 miners and residents were also killed in a landslide in Masara.
Red zone
Based on the website HazardHunterPH, Davao Oro has been tagged as highly susceptible to rain-induced landslides.
The province is barely visible on the map when ticking the rain-induced landslides under the hydro-meteorological hazard category.
HazardHunterPH is the country's one-stop shop for hazard assessment that can be used to generate indicative hazard assessment reports on the user's specified location.
The interactive online tool is a product of GeoRisk Philippines, a multi-agency initiative led by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Brebante said that the most recent landslide in Masara was due to natural causes as she belied reports that it was due to the mining activities in the area.
But Teresa Pacis, Apex Mining Co. assistant vice president for corporate Affairs and communication, said on February 8 that the landslide site in Barangay Masara is within their mining tenement.
Brebante explained that once an area is declared as a no-build zone, it is regardless of any structure such as residential and industrial structures.
She said that even if the areas tagged as red zones or highly susceptible to rain-induced landslides on their geohazard maps, it doesn’t mean it is no longer allowed to build structures in the area. “With red zones, this is accompanied by mitigating measures.”
The MGB official further disclosed that there are some barangay sites that are within the red zones but these are subject to regular monitoring.
Brebante added that should there be any indication of instabilities, the red zones can progress to very critical zones. “Thus, we recommend more appropriate actions. So what we always recommend on red zones is constant monitoring of the stakeholders.”