Human Development International update on Protection of Shrine Hills

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrgyMaaDavaoCity/message/253

City Council Relocation of Juario Residents due to Unstable Hillside

MA-A HOMEOWNER FEDERATION PARTICIPATES WITH SHRINE HILL TREE PLANTING TRIBUTE

Gerard Ghesquiere of Belgium, Lothar Tischer of Germany and Stacey Baird of the United States, now all long-term residents of Ma-a, participate with the Brgy Ma-a Federation of Homeowner Associations and join with Barangay 76-A and many others organizations and individuals in tribute to the protection of Mother Nature and to those who have sacrificed for volunteerism.

The Federation was also invited to give a short presentation on its co-objectives and advocacy for human safety in Responsible Development along with the preservation of the natural beauty and contribution to reduction of Global Warming and Climate Change offered by Shrine Hill.

Stacey Baird, stand-in for Norma Javellana, president of the Federation who was called to confer about environmental matters with the SP at the last minute, told the appreciative audience of the Oxygen Production, CO2 reduction, protection of watershed, reduction of Davao River siltation that an untouched Shrine Hill offered the people of Davao City.

"Equally important," he said was the "immediate protection of long time residents all around the foot of the hill endangered by subdivision development above them."

"Responsible Development is development within or outside a natural habitat of that protects and respects the quality of life and safety of potentially affected nearby residents," he said.

"The larger part of Shrine Hill is a steeply sloped, undermined with limestone sinkholes, caves, springs and streams as well as being covered with the sandy soils of ancient sea beds uplifted by tectonic action in the millenniums past that make it far less than ideal for major subdivision development. The risks are simply too great.

"When the risks to occupants and those below are coupled with the loss to the people of Davao of its environmental benefits, of its trees, ground cover and protection of the watershed, it is far better to make as much of it a natural park as possible.

"Shrine Hill is Davao's major natural landmark. It is the first thing that tourist from all over the Philippines and the world see as they prepare to land in our city. Shrine Hill represents our history and our future as a wonderful place to visit, shop, invest and live in. It is the emerald jewel of Davao City. It must be preserved.

"We must act now by contacting our elected representatives, the media and our continued efforts with organizations such as those here today."

Unstable Shrine Hill Formations and Soil Examples

Northern and Western Shrine Hill Formation examples. Note the effect of human activity and corn plantation on steep hillsides.

Click here

landslides may strike some parts of Region (including Matina Shrine Hill): DENR

Excerpts from Mindanao Times Sunday Jan 24, 2010 pages 2 & 12

Due to continuous rain in Region-XI, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Director Jim O. Sampulma is reiterating his call to all local government units and the public to be vigilant as possible landslides or even flash floods may hit their respective areas. . . .

Since 2007 the MGB had already recommended to LGU's that appropriate warning signages be installed in landslide areas, especially areas close to settlements and affected roads. . . . because continuous rain will loosen the soil and may result to unexpected landslide.

. . . Recent study also disclosed that some parts of Marilog District and Matina Shrine Hills, Davao City are either moderately or highly susceptible to landslides.

Greeks bearing gifts?

No offense to Greeks of the Trojan War but, recently, a representative of one of the Shrine Hill Developers has several times offered its 1,700 meter down hill concrete road and drainage system to the City of Davao as a gift.

Inside this Trojan Horse is the risk transfer of high maintenance cost and man-made landslides costs to Davao City Taxpayers.

In addition, the transfer would likely reduce or eliminate Developer exposure to hillside remediation costs.

Those are costs that could be assessed to Developers for the return of Shrine Hill to its natural state, if the Development Permit is refused. Especially since the road was built without a Development Permit.

A requirement in many countries, the purpose of Remediation assessments is to discourage illegal or irresponsible construction and keep the costs and hazards to life and environment off the backs of Taxpayers.

Our own Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will sometimes order the posting of Completion or Compliance Bonds to assure accomplishment for reforestation of mining and timber harvesting sites.

So, such a concept appears both legal and enforceable and might be extended in the case of a forested hillside subdivision. Or, the requirement might be extended to a subdivision that would interfere with existing drainage patterns, creeks and rivers because of excessive run-off and siltation or loss of wild life.

Certainly, the potential exposure of Developers to such requirements and costs provides the City with additional bargaining power to obtain compliance with Zoning and other laws as well.

Warm Weather trending up. 2000-2009 hottest on record

Let's take a look at this from international news sources


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_sc/us_sci_warm_weather

Misquote in "City to fund geo-hazard Study"

There is a critical misquote in the last paragraph of the above article. The majority of the 1,700 meter concrete road is, in fact, built over and through the steeply sloped Shrine hillside and some of its old landslide debris areas. Building of the subdivision road was without benefit of a City Council approved Subdivision Development Permit (DP) which has yet to be granted.

According to eminent University of the Philippines Associate Professor of Geology and a leading expert on landslide situations, Dr. Sandra Catane, "residents living below are at risk."

Four lower subdivisions and Ma-a Road at Gem Village Road were flash flooded several times when the Developer's top to bottom Shrine Hill road bed was being constructed. The Developer did not provide for proper
temporary drainage nor provide for adequate infrastructure to accept increased storm water run-off resulting from the scalping of ground cover.

The "plan" was to eventually connect to Ma-a's main drain, Datu Luho Creek. Unfortunately for residents, Datu Luho is already at flood stage during rains and cannot be deepened or widened because it is a tidal creek.

Luho flows backwards when the Davao River rises during rain storms and high tides. The additional hillside run-off would back up, overflow and flood Gem Village, Spring Village, St. Michael Villages 1 & 2, Datu Luho Village, Lower Sanggilang and others from the 600,000 square meters (60 hectares) of rain collecting surface, .

As a result of education and pressure from local advocacy groups in Ma-a and with the support of several City Councilors, especially Leo Avila and Pilar Braga, the Department of Public Works & Highways and the City Engineers Office have become aware of the true flooding effects of adding more run-off to Datu Luho Creek.

No addition attachments will be permitted and developers Camella Homes (a Villar company) and DMC-UPDI will have to find a more direct and costly outlet to the river, if the subdivisions are ever approved, which looks doubtful at the moment.

Shrine Hill is simply too unstable long term, and the Philippines has already had too many experiences with deadly landslides.

City to fund independent Shrine Hill study

City to fund Ma-a geo-hazard study
January 20, 2010

Davao City will initiate and fund a geo-hazard study at Shrine Hills, Ma-a, said an officer of Barangay Ma-a Federation of Homeowners Associations (BMHOAI).

BMHOAI head Norma Javellana, during their meeting with City Vice Mayor Sara Duterte on January 13, said a P750,000 budget will be allotted from the city's finances for the study.

The budget was made after a recommendation was released by the UP-Diliman National Institute of Geological Sciences geo-hazard specialist and associate professor Sandra Catane, who conducted an ocular inspection on November 11 under the initiative of Councilor Pilar Braga, chairman of Zoning Ordinance-Technical Working Group (ZO-TWG), and Councilor Leonardo Avila, chairman of the environment and natural resources committee.

The ocular inspection made in November stemmed from pending legislation involving land areas on top of Shrine Hills where construction of two subdivisions are currently put on hold.

Javellana said BMHOAI and Duterte agreed that the study will be headed by Catane.

"The components of the team that will do the study, as Dr. Catane has recommended, will be a geohazard expert, a hydro expert, and a geo-engineering expert for mitigating aspect. Catane also wanted local participation from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) so it will really be a unified study," Javellana said in vernacular.

Meanwhile, Javellana said BMHOAI is handing out open letters to the residents of Ma-a urging protection of Shrine Hills.

"These letters will be to inform the residents of Maa that (1) Shrine Hills has to be protected because it shows signs of geo-hazard and (2) to protect our natural resources in the middle of the city," Javellana said in vernacular.

BMFHOAI, since 2007, has been opposing the construction of Camella Homes (formerly Crown Communities subdivision) and Palm Grove West of DMC Urban Property Development Incorporated (DMC-UPDI).

In November, Catane reported the results of her inspection:

* Rocks underlying the Shrine Hill are inherently unstable.

* Evidence of landslides including debris fall, rock fall and creep are apparent in steep slopes bounding the Shrine Hill.

* Groundwater levels in some parts of the hill are elevated as indicated by the presence of several springs.

* Natural drainages of the hill are hazardous areas as floods may inundate the houses during intense precipitation and continuous stream erosion will eventually undermine the foundation of the house structures.

* The newly constructed access road by DMC was built on relatively gently sloping part of the Shrine Hill.

Is Your Life Safety Negotiable by Others?

Is your life safety negotiable? When it comes to your life, are your standards very high?

Do you fly on airlines with poor safety records? Ride in ocean liners or ferry boat lines known for over crowding and sinking? Do you avoid taxicabs in poor condition and drivers with massive tatoos? At least you have some choice in the matter.

Would you avoid living in or below subdivisions built on steep hills and in areas with histories of past landslides and poor soils?

Many long time Ma-a residents don't have a convenient individual choice. They are "trapped" by new developments and being exposed to hazards of earth movement, landslide and flash flooding. They cannot avoid it because they already live below “proposed” new subdivisions. Professor of Geology, Sandra Catane of the University of the Philippines in Quezon City has stated that "Residents below are at risk."

The subdivision building activities on Shrine Hill are already much more than merely "proposed." They were both begun without license to build a subdivision, without PALCE, without Development Permit. One city councilor termed this "a minor oversight."

One of the Developers publicly stated they were building a six meter wide, 1,700 meter long, six inch thick concrete road spanning Shrine Hill from top to bottom, across old landslide areas for their own private use and enjoyment. Nothing to do with a subdivision. No, no no. Nothing wrong there, they said. Private land and private use. Perfectly permissible. The laws governing subdivision development do not apply to us.

Regrettably, mismanaged run-off from the new non-absorbent concrete road and other hillside clearing flooded Ma-a road and many areas and residents below. No provision had been made by Developers on how to handle 60 hectares of run-off once it left their private property.

Greeks bearing gifts? Generously, the Developer has since offered the 1,700 meter concrete road and drainage system to the City of Davao for its general public use (and maintenance).

The risk and cost of maintenance and responsibility for landslide would then be transferred to the Taxpayers of Davao.

Likewise, the transfer would likely reduce Developer exposure to hillside remediation costs if the development permit is refused and it is ordered by the Courts to return the hill to its natural state as is required in many countries.

Such an Order may be more likely since the Developer appears to have circumvented the City Council and the law. It has now publicly admitted the road was intended for subdivision use. No surprise there.

There may also be a problem with Presidential Decrees 705, Section 15, the Revised Forestry Code which forbids sale of government land to developers and others where the slope is eighteen percent (10.2 degrees) or greater, due to the risk of perpetuating landslide deaths and destruction of the natural environment.

Whether the law applies in this situation may have to be decided by the courts, but the conditions described clearly indicate the Government’s view of the hazards of landslide, erosion, flooding, and degradation of biodiversity that such hillside developments may present. Shrine Hill side slopes are as much as 40 degrees in places.

And here's an interesting excerpt,

Presidential Decree 957
RIRRs of the Year 2001, Rule 1, Section 1,

“Subdivision projects shall be located within suitable sites for housing and outside hazard prone areas and protection areas as provided for by pertinent laws.

”Critical areas (e.g. areas subject to flooding, landslides and those with unstable soil) must be avoided.

“The site shall be stable enough to accommodate foundation load without excessive earth moving, grading or cutting and filling.”

Upper portions of formally proposed development areas appear to touch unstable areas. They appear to be supported by known unstable areas. In addition, the area is known for sinkholes and hidden limestone caves which may affect home site and hillside stability. In other words, the upper flatter "table lands" may have weak table legs. These are key questions for independent comprehensive Geohazard and Geo-engineering consideration.

Is your life safety subject to Barter and Swap in a deal for other concessions? Does the prior granting of a Preliminary Application for Locational Clearance (PALC) entitle applicant to a Development Permit when new information is found that puts lives in question?

Concessions not adding to the safety of existing residents below a proposed hillside subdivision are irrelevant to the general proceedings.

And, philosophically, should seeming violators of HLURB law and Presidential Decrees, order and public safety be rewarded? Does one "negotiate" to march off deadly cliff or does find another way down?

Will you allow recognized potential hazards to your life and property to be negotiated for you without an independent comprehensive Geohazard and Geo Engineering study and new zoning according to that study?

Keep in mind that the Artica Sports Dome was built without an independent geohazard and a Mines and Geosciences Bureau study. It remains unfinished, reported due to a later discovered geologic fault line that also runs under Shrine Hill.

5.3 Earthquake with Intensity 4 felt in Davao City

January 15, 8:07 a.m. Did you feel it? How could you not, children and wives screaming, house shaking, lights and curtains swaying back and forth. It was the strongest intensity quake I have felt since coming to Davao. "Haiti, here we come," I thought at first.

I rushed outside and looked up at Shrine Hill's towering 450 foot height. Still there. What a relief! I pushed back visions of twitching fingers, mud and blood encaked arms desperately reaching out from the roiling soils of a landslide, a vision of collapsed walls, high voltage lines sparking 30,000 volts and ruptured septic tanks draining filth along Ma-a road and everywhere the smell of death.

I asked myself, "What if the epicenter had been just a few miles closer or right along the geologic fault line running though Shrine Hills and, reportedly, under the canceled Artica Sports Dome?" "Even if a perfectly built house were not damaged, would it still be sitting on the same lot or one ten lots below?" I asked myself.

I also asked myself, "What if a nearby 5.3 quake comes during a heavy two hour rain or after several days in a row of heavy rains?"

I wondered if uncleaned hillside drainage channels, choked with weeds, plastic bags and silt would break away, overflow and wash out roads and then hillsides.

I wondered if the new 1,700 meters of Shrine Hill roadbeds that were made up, down and across old landslide bodies would be especially weakened and likely to fall. "Surely, they are much less stable, at least Geologists have stated they are," I thought.

I also wondered about the consequences to Hillside Developers if one of their developments should fall. Of course, there would be lawsuits brought. But a lawsuit brought never brings back to life the buried dead, nor do tears and apologies bring back children to parents who trusted too much.

Probably you have heard wise sayings, based on human experience, from individuals of many different religions to the effect of "Trust in God but always count your change" or "Trust in Allah but always tie your camel" or "God helps those who help themselves."

What those wise and sometimes humorous sayings mean to me is that while we cannot choose what disasters may strike, we can influence their frequency, severity, their harsh and grievous effects.

We also like to think of Government, while far lower than God, as responsible for our protection. "It's their job, let them do it." Do we need to break that habit?

We know Government cannot see or do everything. In self defense, we must ask ourselves not what Government can do for us, but what can we do for ourselves and to help the Government do the best job it can by keeping it well-informed.

Consider this: We ourselves are every bit as responsible for the welfare of our family as we hold Government to be. Therefore we must alert and inform our councilors, our vice-mayor, mayor and other Officials of our personal knowledge and concerns.

Our knowledge is experienced based. We have gained it just by living in an area, day in and day out. We must act to reduce the frequency, likelihood and severity of landslides, flooding disasters, loss of oxygen producing and CO2 reducing forests and ground cover. We can do that by not building on dangerous, steeply sloped and forested hillsides.

We can do that by following the existing laws of the land including Presidential Decree 705 that forbids subdivision development on slopes of 18 percent or more.

Does anyone wish to debate that slopes or anticlines of Shrine Hill are not generally 18 percent or more? Does anyone wish to debate whether there has been is a 1,700 meter concrete subdivision road cut through long settled but now disturbed former landslide areas?

Does anyone wish to debate whether there have been human caused killer landslides in Juario Village, Ma-a or that there is not constant slope movement in Nacilla Village due to relocation or interference with its many bugacs or springs?

It is critical to make sure Officials understand the information, that the threats to our life, property and welfare are the highest issue. That Officials themselves can be made to personally imagine and feel its effects and their responsibilities.

There are many interests competing for an Official's time and attention. They will hear the squeakiest wheel. Make noise now.

Life at the bottom of the hill

Life at the bottom of the hill