DEPARTMENT OF Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark A. Villar on Monday said he has ordered a revisit of projects in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) after road segments and a building were destroyed by recent landslides caused by heavy rains. “I think, at this point, because of the various reasons that include the various climactic changes… the rains in the CAR region are unprecedented. They have caused massive landslides and that’s why at this point I even released an order to revisit all these hazard areas in the hazard maps,” he said during the Senate budget hearing of the DPWH. Mr. Villar also noted that the agency has reiterated the requirement for construction projects to be based on the hazard maps of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). He made the statement in response to Senator Panfilo M. Lacson’s inquiries into the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) circumferential road project. During the hearing, the senator showed videos of the lack of slope protection and the numerous landslides that occurred during the construction of the road. Mr. Lacson said the DPWH did not consult with the MGB, which could have warned that parts of the roads are in landslide-prone areas. “Let’s take a moment first and review… Seventy-five percent of the entire circumferential road under construction, there are landslides… What happens if vehicles pass through that area? People may die,” Mr. Lacson told DPWH officials. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

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