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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Walang silbi': Erwin Tulfo blames OCD, Maco LGU for deadly Davao de Oro landslide 

'Walang silbi': Erwin Tulfo blames OCD, Maco LGU for deadly Davao de Oro landslide 

Published Mar 13, 2024 12:49 am

At A Glance

  • ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo blasted the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the local government unit (LGU) of Maco, Davao de Oro, for their alleged negligence in the landslide that killed 98 people and left nine missing. 

FB_IMG_1691090425487.jpgACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo (Facebook)

ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo blasted the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the local government unit (LGU) of Maco, Davao de Oro, for their alleged negligence in the landslide that killed 98 people and left nine missing.

In the hearing by the House Committee on Disaster Resilience on the tragedy, Tulfo, the deputy majority leader for communications, argued that had the LGU and OCD did their job, the deadly landslide could have been prevented.

“Maraming insidente ng landslide bago yung mismong landslide na marami ang namatay. Kung ginawa nila ang trabaho nila hindi ito mangyayari,” an irate Tulfo said.

(There have been a lot of incidents of landslides before the actual landslide that killed many people. Had they performed their job, this wouldn't have happened.)

Tulfo revealed in the hearing presided by Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong that even before the tragedy, a series of landslides had been recorded in Maco, Davao de Oro, based on reports from indigenous people (IP) communities in the area.

Landslides were recorded on Jan. 12 and 13, 2023, in Purok Waling-Waling, Bgy. Mainit, and in March 2023, in Purok Durian, Bgy. Mainit.

Three more landslides were recorded in January 2024, resulting in one death in different areas of Maco, just a few days before the tragic landslide on Feb. 6.

When Tulfo confronted Maco Mayor Voltaire Rimando and Warren Lucas of the Operations Service of the OCD, both admitted that they did not receive reports of these landslides. Only the Mines and GeoSciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported receiving landslide reports from the area.

“So mga walang silbi ang mga ahensya natin. Walang silbi ang OCD buwagin na lang natin siguro. Maging siguro itong munisipyo. So gawa-gawa lamang ng mga IPs itong report sa akin na may mga landslide tayo,” Tulfo said, with obvious sarcasm.

(So our agencies are useless then. The OCD is useless, let's just abolish it. Even this municipality. So the IPs just fabricated the report they sent to me that there were landslides.)

For his part, Adiong did not agree with the OCD's response that they only receive reports when there are 10 or more deaths.

"I could not take that. I cannot believe that you only accept reports when there are 10 or more deaths. That is unacceptable," Adiong said.

Related Tags

Landslide Erwin Tulfo Davao de Oro
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