By Zaldy Comanda BAGUIO CITY — Secretary Mark Villar of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has given an assurance that the department is ready to respond in cases of road blocks in the Cordillera due to typhoon “Ompong.” Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar (photo by Alberto Garcia/ MANILA BULLETIN) Villar, in a press conference here Friday afternoon, said he had given orders to the DPWH to pre-position equipment that will be utilized to immediately respond and clear road blocks due to land, rock and mudslides in the Cordillera. The Secretary said there are 208 equipment which are now pre-positioned in 44 critical areas all over the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). There are also 1,010 personnel on an alert status who are ready to respond. “The road network in the Cordillera is critical because of the transport of goods. There is a need to immediately clear the roads to transport goods and relief goods,” Villar said. Villar said the 44 locations are critical areas where landslide prone sites are located. He also ordered that Halsema highway, the primary road used by vegetable transporters, to prevent the goods from being stalled in reaching the market. He also said that there are satellite phones distributed to the field, to allow their personnel to communicate with each other and ask for reinforcement which will need moving of equipment to help clear roads. The provinces of Kalinga and Apayao, located at the northern part of the region are most likely to be hardly hit by typhoon Ompong as its direction closes in.