Palace orders investigation on Compostela landslide

Following the landslide that killed 25 miners in Compostela Valley, Thursday dawn, Malacañang shall order an investigation on the incident.

Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda stated that the government is launching an investigation to identify whether the local government unit is to blame. “A geo-hazard map which indicated landslide-prone areas was already released but the local officials seemed to neglect this,” he said.

Lacierda reasoned that this is not the first time that such an incident happened in Pantukan. Prior to this, barely a year after, a similar incident also happened in April last year in Barangay Kingking, also in Pantukan, which killed 14 miners.

He added that while the affected area was into small scale mining, the government would also look into implementing stricter rules in releasing Environment Compliance Certificates (ECC) so as to prevent the proliferation of small scale mining companies.

Presently, Lacierda said that the government is focusing on evacuation, while the military was ordered to conduct search and rescue mission in the area and the social welfare unit to identify affected residents who will be given assistance.

By SARAH HILOMEN-VELASCO
mb.com.ph

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