DAVAO CITY — Davao de Oro Representative Ruwel Peter Gonzaga and Party-list Representative Raffy Tulfo want a Congressional inquiry to determine the accountable officials behind the proliferation of structures in Barangay Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro, despite the imposed no-build zone policy in 2009.
The Congressmen passed a joint resolution in the House of Representatives to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation to totally prohibit occupation and habitation in Masara after the February 6 landslide which caused the death of 71 persons as of February 12 and still 42 remain missing, but the number of retrieved cadaver is still rising.
Gonzaga told reporters covering the retrieval operation “I want to get to the bottom of the incident to determine if there is a need to pass laws to fully implement the policy of the Mines and Sciences Bureau of a no-build zone in the area and cloth it with fines and penalties for the violators.”
Davao de Oro is considered one of the biggest gold-producing provinces in Mindanao and incidents of landslide have been recurring over the years.
In 2009, the City Council of Maco passed a resolution ordinance declaring the area as no-build zone.
Barangay Captain Douglas Dumalagan Jr. in an interview with Newsline said 140 houses occupied zone 1 when the incident happened on February 6, including his house.
