Miner killed, 5 injured as landslide hits Composteral Valley areas

TAGUM CITY—A miner was killed and five others were injured in yet another landslide in a mining village in Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, police said on Saturday.

Supt. Cydric Earl Tamayo, Monkayo police chief, said  rains in the past few days triggered the landslide that buried a house and a gold processing plant in the area on Wednesday.

Senior Supt. Camilo Cascolan, Compostela Valley police chief, said the police got the report late because communication lines were down in the area.

Tamayo identified the fatality as Cirilo Seguerra, 25, a transient. Those injured were identified as Roseric Mercado, 36, the owner of the house buried in the landslide; his relatives, Ronald, 27, and Benjie, 26, also surnamed Mercado; Rodel Sacon, 25; and Jerico Humilid, 24.

Tamayo said the victims were miners apparently under the employ of Roseric.

Landslides are a regular occurrence in the mining community of more than 40,000.

Since gold was discovered there in the early 1980s, scores have died as tunnels cave in and mountainsides fall off during heavy rains.

Among the worst cases include the September 2008 landslide in the Mt. Diwalwal side in Barangay Masara in Maco town that killed at least 20 persons.

Aside from Wednesday’s landslide, floods also killed four people in various areas of Compostela Valley since Sunday.

In Carmen, Davao del Norte, dozens of houses were submerged on Friday evening as floodwaters rose, according to Sonio Sanchez, the Davao del Norte disaster prevention and response manager.

Hundreds of other villagers fled the floods that submerged several areas of the two towns, Sanchez said.

A security guard, identified in a military report as Nelson Jimenez, died after floods swept him away as he tried to help rescue employees trapped by floods in the quarters of the Dole-Stanfilco plantation.

Capt. Nathaniel Morales, of the Army’s third communication and information company, said a mixture of mud, water and debris carried the security guard several kilometers away.

“He was doing the rounds in warning people to evacuate, but some hard-headed folk decided to stay in their homes and got trapped as the water level rose,” Morales said. Frinston Lim and Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao