DPWH, city gov’t speed up work in Davao’s landslide area

“Since it is a project of the DPWH, all we can do is to give assistance. For now, our engineers are in the area to help the DPWH in assessing the situation,” Felizarta said.
(Photo: Department of Public Works and Highways, Philippines/Facebook)

DAVAO CITY— The city government’s engineering office is closely coordinating with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in road clearing and stabilizing the landslide area along Carlos P. Garcia Highway that remains close to traffic since Friday.

The closure of the portion of the highway has caused monstrous traffic along the stretch of McArthur Highway leaving drivers not to ply their usual routes.

Engr. Joseph Dominic Felizarta, head of the City Engineer’s Office (CEO), said his office is closely coordinating with the DPWH giving assistance and ensuring that similar incident would not happen again.

DPWH is undertaking the road widening of Carlos P. Garcia more known as Diversion Road.

“Since it is a project of the DPWH, all we can do is to give assistance. For now, our engineers are in the area to help the DPWH in assessing the situation,” Felizarta said.

He said the CEO also made sure that residents near the landslide area will be transferred permanently. A total of 48 families were forced to evacuate following the landslide Thursday night.

City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) head Maria Luisa Bermudo said the city is preparing the Los Amigos, Tugbok relocation area for the transfer of the affected families for their safety.

“This is a matter of safety, so we immediately assist the affected families for their transfer to our relocation area in Los Amigos. We will be monitoring them every now and then to ensure their safety,” Bermudo said.

Bermudo said the only request of the evacuees was to ensure that their children could still continue with their studies even if they would transfer to the relocation site.

“We also coordinated with the Department of Education so that we can temporarily transfer the kids to the nearby school. We have to understand that the relocation area is far from their current school so we have to accommodate their temporary transfer,” Bermudo said.