Tribal rites held in Ifugao to mourn death of 9 landslide victims

BY VENCY BULAYUNGAN

HINGYON, Ifugao – Residents here held tribal rites to mourn nine people belonging to two families who were buried alive when a landslide covered their houses at Barangay Pitawan here along the national road leading to Banaue, on the eve of Sept. 29.

The fatalities were identified as Erma Hiyadan, 50; Ruby Manwong,7; Megan Manwong 5; Johanie Manwong, 3; Hiyadan Cutilyo, 80; Julia, 52, Henry ,55, Joel, 27; and Rommel, 30, all surnamed Linglingon. Nine-year-old Denver Bogbog, the lone survivor, miraculously survived.

Mariano Binwag, 60, a neighbor of the victims, said the incident happened around 10:30 p.m..
He added he was sitting inside their house, five meters from the victims’ houses when he heard loud rolling sound.

Rushing to see what happened, he saw the two houses covered with huge volume of soil.
There was no electricity but he immediately sought help from their other neighbors. Binwag said the first person who responded was Barangay Captain David Binwag who rushed to the scene and rescued the Bogbog who was hanging tight on a cliff.

Using his lighter, the barangay captain reportedly rescued Bogbog while the soil from above was still coming down to them.

Other neighbors came to help. “Using flashlights and shovels, tried our best in removing the mud and rocks with the hope of finding them alive but the volume of the soil was so big that they were hard up in trying to unearth the victims, Mariano Biwag said.

Ifugao board member Joseph Odan who was about to go to Banaue, saw the incident prompting him to alert provincial executive assistant, Charles Baguilat who looked for a bulldozer.

Baguilat convened right away the provincial disaster coordinating council to help clear the area and recover the victims. The bodies of the victims were recovered around 3:30 p.m. the following day.
Residents said another landslide happened in this same spot in 1974 when the road widening from Nueva Vizcaya to Banaue was being undertaken killing a bulldozer operator and a spotter.

Hingyon Mayor Ramon Tinawi said his office was doing its best to assist the families of the victims and has coordinated with the provincial social welfare office for assistance.

With the incident, Tinawi warned residents living along the national road to assess their location to avoid incidents like this in the future.