ILOILO City – Heavy monsoon rains since Monday caused road slips and road depressions in the provinces of Antique, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) advised travelers to be alert and take note of detours.
Maintenance crews were dispatched to the affected areas. Necessary signs were installed to guide motorists, according to DPWH Region 6 information officer Vivian Tan.
In Antique, a road slip and a road depression were monitored along the Iloilo-Antique Road in Lindero, Hamtic town.
Road depression or road settlement was also monitored along the Iloilo-Hamtic Road in Barangay Igbucagay.
“Motorists are advised to take the San Joaquin, Iloilo-Anini-y, Antique coastal road,” said Tan.
Upon inspection of the site on Monday afternoon they had to declare the road section impassable until they could restore it, according to Raul Armada, chief of DPWH-Antique District Maintenance Division.
“We are appealing to friendly contractors to help us in this restoration work,” he said.
DPWH Antique asked contractors to provide sand and gravel for filling materials.
Due to the poor weather conditions, it was difficult sourcing the materials from rivers, explained Armada.
“The road depression is almost one meter so we advised commuters to divert via Anini-y town,” he said.
Anini-y, the southernmost town of Antique, has a coastal road serving as alternate route for commuters going to Iloilo without passing by the mountainous Barangay Igbucagay.
“We hope to restore the road within the day,” said Armada.
Meanwhile, a road depression along Iloilo-Antique road in Barangay Caromangay, Hamtic left only one lane passable to motorists.
Also, one lane remained passable to traffic along Anini-y-Tobias Fornier-Hamtic Road after a landslide.
DPWH also warned of a road slip in Barangay New Gumawan and Barangay Cata-an in San Joaquin, Iloilo.
Tan said only one lane of this secondary road in Barangay Cata-an was passable.
On the other hand, the low chainage abutment of the Anhawan Bridge in Oton, Iloilo was also damaged but the right side was still passable.
In Negros Occidental, an affected infrastructure was monitored along the Bacolod-Silay road.
Tan said the flood control structure of the Binalbagan Bridge River Bank was damaged due to continuous heavy rains and high water level.
Funds were requested for the rehabilitation of the river bank. Tan said DPWH was still waiting for the program of rehabilitation works and for the quoted budget. (Philippine News Agency/PNA)
