Disaster in Sitio Manibayukan

Sitio Manibayukan is one of the ten sitios comprising Sitio Kalangitan. On August 2018, a landslide occurred in the sitio, caused by an ongoing upland road construction for New Clark City. It happened after torrential rains in the area softened the land and released big boulders and loose soil, endangering the community and resulting in the demise of a young girl. The landslide was reported to bore a hole in an unused septic tank which the continuous rain during this period filled up. The unsupervised child who was playing near the tank fell into it and drowned. The locals have reported the incident to the authorities in hopes that they could do something regarding this risk but no action was done until the time of writing.

It was along this bend of excavated mountainside that the landslide of rocks and earth came from. Overlooking the sitio below, the loose materials from the steep slope had spelled the demise of a child when it all came down.

The landslide also affected the livelihood of Sitio Manibayukan residents. Upon the team’s visit, a resident recounted how a nearby animal farm had to move most of their livestock and poultry to another area after majority of their crops were found to be on the direct path of possible landslides.

At the time of writing, the upland road construction is still in full swing and another landslide on the area was reported after another bout of torrential rains last March 2019.