On Sept. 20, 2018, a massive landslide in barangays Tinaan and Naalad in Naga City, Cebu claimed the lives of 78 people, injured 18 others, with a number still missing.
But the local people say the actual death toll was more than a hundred.
In a report, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Region VII of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said that what actually happened was a karst subsidence that was followed by a landslide or a planar block slide, which is described as a complex mass movement.
A karst subsidence, it explained, is the gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface owing to subsurface movement of earth materials.
While MGB geologists said that one of the causes of subsidence in karst is ground shaking due to earthquakes which were frequent in the area in 2017 and 2018, other contributory factors are anthropogenic processes such as urbanization, industrialization and quarrying.
In a statement issued in 2023 by Cemex, one of the country’s largest cement manufacturers, it said that the landslide took place at a quarry managed by APO Land and Quarry Corp. (ALQC), a third-party supplier that provides raw materials to its Apo cement plant.
Cemex said that there have been numerous investigations into the event including one by the DENR in 2018, after which local authorities ruled that the landslide was attributable to natural causes. It added that in 2019, all cases involving Cemex subsidiaries were dismissed by the courts and that these rulings have since become final.
Today, that same company operates under eight active MPSAs, covering over 3,000 hectares.
A Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) is a mining contract issued by the national government, allowing private companies to extract mineral resources in exchange for a share of the profits with the State.
But under the Philippine Mining Act, MPSAs cannot include areas with existing communities.
Last March, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia called for the nullification of the MPSAs of huge quarry companies, including that of ALQC’s, that are said to have committed several violations of the province’s revenue code ordinance and the Mining Act. These include ALQC.
Garcia cited Section 19 of Republic Act 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, which provides that MPSA as well as financial or technical assistance agreements (FTAA) applications shall not be allowed near or under public or private buildings, bridges, highways, railroads, other infrastructure projects, public or private works including plantations or valuable crops, except upon the written consent of the government agency or private entity concerned.
She noted that ALQC has eight MPSAs granted by the MGB, covering over 3,300 hectares, covering areas in the towns of San Fernando, Carcar City, Pinamungajan and Toledo City.
The STAR reported on March 28 that the provincial capitol found out that the ongoing extraction by ALQC has already reached areas near the communities, thereby violating RA 7942.
It said that Garcia has extended the cease-and-desist order she imposed on all the earth-moving operations of ALQC and another company, Solid Development Corp., for a month pending the environmental audit and comprehensive areas risk assessment conducted.
The governor said that she fears that without the CDO, these companies would continue to extract limestones near areas with living communities, and would possibly end up like what happened in Naga City in 2018.
She slammed concerned government agencies that allowed the huge extraction disregarding the safety of people living nearby.
It has also been reported that despite extracting millions of metric tons of limestone, not a single peso has been remitted to the Province of Cebu since 2008.
Garcia was issued a six-month preventive suspension order last April to pave the way for an investigation into a permit she allegedly granted to a construction company that had no environmental clearance for desilting works on Cebu’s Mananga River during the El Niño phenomenon in 2024.
She said that the issuance of the special permit in question was driven solely by the urgent need to address the critical water shortage back then and that it had the proper approval of the provincial board which then placed Cebu under a state of calamity due to the water shortage.
OSAEC campaign recognized
The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), in partnership with Tribal Worldwide Philippines, under DDB Group Philippines, has won another prestigious Gold Award, this time, under the Film category at Spikes Asia 2025 for their groundbreaking campaign against Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC).
The short film “Play,” part of the “Family Business” series, was recognized for its compelling storytelling and powerful impact in raising awareness about the urgent need to address OSAEC and Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials (CSAEM). This victory marks the only Philippine entry this year to win Gold at the region’s oldest and most prestigious award for creative advertising held in Singapore.
Receiving the trophies are DDB Group Philippines chief culture officer and founder and managing director of Bent and Buzz Anna Chua-Norbert and Tribal Worldwide Philippines executive creative director Dan Pambid.
This campaign, which has garnered significant attention in both local and global circles, focuses on the disturbing statistics that one in every 100 Filipino children is trafficked for online sexual exploitation.
The “Family Business” campaign, including the “Play” short film, has previously received several prestigious awards, including the Gold Anvil Award last January, the Meritorious Technical Award of Excellence in the Values Category at the 12th Araw Values Awards last March, and the Bronze Award at ADFEST 2025 in Pattaya, Thailand also in March.
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