Landslide death toll at 85; tent city eyed for survivors

Excavators and other heavy equipment work to dig for more survivors in the landslide that buried parts of a mining community in Masara village, Macoo town, Davao de Oro on Friday, Feb. 10, 2024. (File photo by FRINSTON LIM / Inquirer Mindanao)

MACO, Davao de Oro, Philippines — Jovenito Pitogo buried his eldest child, 17-year-old Chad Lorens, on Wednesday, one of the victims of the landslide that entombed parts of the mining village of Masara here on Feb. 6.

What was supposed to be a day red with love and zest for life, expressed through Valentine’s gifts and greetings, was cast in bitter black for the Pitogos and scores of other grieving families.

“It was devastating. He had so much potential but was taken away from us suddenly,” Jovenito said of Chad, holding back tears as he gazed at his son’s white casket draped with white cloth before the altar of a Catholic chapel in Elizalde village.

The eldest in a brood of four, Chad dreamed of becoming an electrical engineer like his father. On the night disaster struck, he was heading home to Barangay Mainit after having his phone charged at the Masara barangay hall.

Aside from Chad, 13 other identified landslide victims were buried at a public cemetery in nearby Mawab town. The local government of Mawab shouldered the burial expenses as a way to “condole with the grieving families,” said Mayor Ruperto Gonzaga Jr.

Seven more victims — those who remained unidentified — were laid to rest in a temporary common grave in Maco.2 relocation sites.

READ: Search for Davao de Oro landslide survivors ends; death toll at 71

As the search for more victims continued, the provincial government began the long process of relocating the displaced villagers.

Davao de Oro Gov. Dorothy Gonzaga said a tent city would be set up at Purok 2A, Tinago, Barangay Elizalde, to temporarily house survivors.

The provincial government is looking at two sites — one near the quasi-parish in Elizalde and another in Malamodao village, also in Maco — according to Joseph Randy Loy, provincial disaster risk reduction and management officer.

The half-hectare site in Elizalde, owned by the diocese of Tagum, was requested from Bishop Medil Aseo, Loy said, while the 2-hectare area in Malamodao is owned by Apex Mining Company Inc.

Almost 6,000 in shelters

Clearing operations for the tent city started at the Elizalde site also on Wednesday.

Loy said his office was still waiting for further assessment from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau central office on whether the Malamodao site would be suitable since it is close to a river.

The families from landslide-affected and vulnerable communities of Maco are currently staying in nine evacuation centers in Mawab town, where 3,803 people have been housed mostly in schools. A tenth center, one in Elizalde, is holding 1,830 more people.

According to Loy, the Department of Education had given the local government 15 days to use the school facilities. The tents to be set up as transitory shelters will come from the International Organization for Migration and the Red Cross, he added.