BAGUIO CITY, Philippines?The city government's priority in the aftermath of tropical cyclone Pepeng's fury is how to reopen its access to the rest of the country.

Passenger buses may not be allowed to travel for a week and vegetable trucks supplying Metro Manila markets could not use three major routes out of the city because of massive landslides.

But government engineers said they could clear up rockslides along the 34-kilometer Kennon Road within two days now that the rains have stopped, said Peter Fianza, city administrator.

The route, however, could accommodate only light vehicles, he said.

A section of Marcos Highway has been blocked by mudslides that span almost 20 meters in the village of Taloy Sur in Tuba, Benguet.

Engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways initially estimated repair work there to take a couple of weeks because of the amount of time required to haul out mud.

But Tuba Mayor Florencio Bentrez informed Baguio officials that the DPWH could open up a diversion route through the town to allow light vehicles to ferry vegetables out of Baguio and Benguet.

The construction of the road could take a week, Fianza quoted Bentrez as saying.

Naguilian Road, another major route to the city from la Union, suffered the biggest damage when portions of a mountainside crashed onto and through the highway, Fianza said.

"Repairs there would take longer because you need to rebuild the whole road," he said.

Reopening sections of Kennon Road and building a diversion road in Tuba could allow Baguio-bound motorists trapped in Rosario, La Union, since Thursday night to reach Baguio, he said.