LUNA, Apayao, Philippines - For the second time in just two months, thousands of residents in the two towns of this lowland Cordillera province are isolated from the rest of Northern Luzon after main roads in these areas were closed by landslides spurred by heavy rains. Local officials and police authorities confirmed most parts of Calansan and Conner towns are no longer accessible after huge volume of debris from the denuded mountains have blocked road networks due to the continuous heavy downpour in the eastern part of the Philippine archipelago thereby depriving people access to other places in the province and the Cagayan Valley area. Worse, the transport of agricultural crops from the farms to the market and the delivery of basic commodities to the said towns have stopped due to the landslides that blocked major roads leading to the various parts of the said areas. Also isolated from the rest of the province include Barangay Elena in Calanasan, and Guinaang, Manag and Conner which could hardly be reached by vehicles due to numerous landslides along roads leading to said places. Last month, the said towns were also isolated from the rest of Northern Luzon after landslides triggered by earlier waves of heavy downpours blocked major roads which resulted in a food shortage as roads were not immediately opened to traffic considering the difficulty of removing the huge volume of debris that blocked main arteries leading to the different parts of the province. In order to immediately make the roads accessible and to prevent the occurrence of food shortage in the said towns, several units of heavy equipment of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and private contractors are now working round the clock to make a punch through on the roads to allow vehicles to traverse.
However, road clearing in the area seems to suffer from setbacks with the continuous prevalence of heavy rains since debris continue to be washed down the denuded mountains rendering such operations difficult and dangerous to the motoring public. Because of the present situation in the province, provincial and municipal officials are appealing to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to extend the appropriate assistance to the province to ensure that residents in the isolated towns will not suffer food shortage while DPWH personnel are fast-tracking the clearing of landslides that impede the smooth flow of traffic in the roads leading to the remote towns of the province.
