DAVAO CITY – Three persons were reported missing in a landslide in Barangay Don Salvador Lopez in Mati City, Davao Oriental on Wednesday, Dec. 28.
Authorities identified the missing as Jethro Paglanson Quilat, 14-years-old; Roberto Pelaez Ampo, 52-years-old; and John Gel Paglanson Casaligan, 15-years-old, residents of Barangay Don Salvador Lopez.
Mati City Information Office (CIO) head Ben Tesiorna said that 86 personnel composed of rescuers, police, military, and medical teams were dispatched on Thursday morning, Dec. 29, to the area to locate them.
The body of a certain Cristituto Magmusa Paglanson, a 62-year-old, was retrieved on Dec. 28. Paglanson was the president of Purok Sangay where the landslide occurred at around 11 a.m.
According to the Mati City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), the landslide resulted in the isolation of seven puroks – Upper Cangusan, Lower Cangusan, Proper Cangusan, Tabon- tabon, New Camotes, Santa Cruz, and Biasong.
Residents told the Mati CDRRMO that four people were buried by the landslide – a family of three on a motorbike passing by the area and a resident fishing near a creek.
The Mati CDRRMO said heavy downpour pushed people into evacuation centers. Hundreds of homes and more than 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of crops in some parts of Mindanao were destroyed.