Mindanotoday.com | Airport, convention center on ‘risky sites’
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
A geologist from the state’s mines and geosciences agency on Friday, July 21, decried that geological hazard maps are often ignored once construction and building documents are issued by local governments and other agencies.
Osin Sinsuat Jr., Mines and Geosciences Bureau-10 chief geologist, said both the Laguindingan Airport in Misamis Oriental and the Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. International Convention Center in Indahag, Cagayan de Oro are constructed on areas that are susceptible to geo-hazards.
“It took the construction more than 20 years to complete because they need to stabilize the foundation,” Sinsuat told the attendees of Disaster Risk Management Training at De Luxe Hotel in Cagayan de Oro.
Laguindingan Airport which started operating 10 years ago (June 15, 1013) is constructed on an “uplifted coralline limestone” 4.17 square-kilometer land at Moog village, Laguindingan town and is managed by the Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
The convention center is on a 4.7-hectare hilly land that was constructed and completed by the Department of Public and Highways two years ago (September 8, 2021). DPWH turned it over to the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) on September 20, 2021.
Sinsuat said the MGB-10 has not issued certifications that the sites for both structures posed no geo-hazards for ground subsidence and rain-induced landslides since the airport is on a limestone area and the convention center is on a hilly portion.
These, he said, are just two of the structures which required detailed engineering studies and were constructed because local governments issued the required documents, ignoring the geo-hazard maps which the MGB-10 of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources prepare.
These maps use colors to classify areas either as low, moderate, or highly susceptible to flooding, flashfloods, landslides, and further indicate other geo-hazards including earthquakes and storm surges. These, he said, must be used as a tool for decision-makers and planners in the formulation of land-use maps.
Sinsuat advised those who wish to buy real estate properties to visit the proposed sites during bad weather because these are the times when one would know where the rainwater flows and flooding occurs.
He said there are signs of impending landslide or ground subsidence, among these include presence of tension cracks, tilting of trees, soil creeds, and rock falls.
He also took note of the Bamboo Lane housing project in Canitoan village which is developed right beside a creek. Those behind the construction claim the creek has never overflowed even during the 2011 typhoon Sendong.
“There is no such thing as a dry creek and a dead river,” said the MGB-10 official, adding that “there is no calamity if there is no community”
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