GUBAT, SORSOGON—Since November last year, soil has continuously eroded in upland Sitio Tigkiw-na-Saday in Barangay Tigkiw in Gubat town on the shoulders of Bulusan Volcano, 614 kilometers south of Manila.

The progressing circular earth drop has baffled villagers as it has brought down an entire plateau to form a huge pit about 500 meters wide and 24 meters deep.

Without experts to explain the phenomenon, the villagers call it “buho” (hole). On Wednesday, they summoned a “parasantigwar” (folk healer) from neighboring Casiguran town to cast a spell to stop the erosion.

Farmer Danilo Ofalsa, 50, recalled that the land fall started with a small hole near the edge of the plateau at a river boundary after Supertyphoon “Reming” struck in December 2006. The gap has so widened that the surrounding area collapsed along with about 50 coconut and hardwood trees.

He said the continuing erosion was triggered by rain three months ago.

On the edge of the plateau is an opening where soil and debris of trees and rocks fall down the river. The dump covers a field of some two hectares.

A house once built far from the village is now on the direct path of the changed course of the river.

Ofalsa says some “unseen creatures” may be responsible for the phenomenon. He recalled that several months ago, he was planning to put up a house in the middle of the “banika” (plain), which is now the deep hole, but he abandoned the idea after his dog refused to sleep there.

He cautioned teenagers from throwing anything into the hole lest they displease the unseen beings inhabiting the place. It seemed that the creatures have not been satisfied with the two white chickens that the “parasantigwar” offered in a ritual of appeasement, he said.

The villagers were advised to burn candles at dusk at the rim of the deep hole, he added.

Alexander Erandio said he had been told by the “parasantigwar” that a fairy prince was building a palace in the area as big as the hole.

“The fairy prince demands a high sacrificial offering of three human lives,” he claimed.

The deep pit is 31 km from Gubat and a 3-km hike from Tigkiw. Juan Escandor Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon