DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 7 February)—The site of Tuesday night’s landslide in Barangay Masara in Maco, Davao de Oro that left at least 44 residents missing and a still undetermined number of mine workers unaccounted for, is the same site of two landslides in September 2008 that left 24 dead, 31 injured and two missing.
Soldiers carrying rescued landslide survivors from Barangay Masara, Maco, Davao de Oro. Photo by the 60th Infantry Battalion as posted on the Facebook page of the provincial government of Davao de Oro.
In Barangay Masara alone, which has a population of 1,125 as of the May 2020 census, 44 residents living along the path of the landslide have been reported missing, barangay secretary Jane Marneal Baybayon told MindaNews early Wednesday morning. She said they are praying for good weather as rescue and retrieval operations are still ongoing in the site that Baybayon recalled was also the site of the 2008 landslides.
The number of survivors—mine workers who were on the bus that was ferrying them to the mining site—has risen from eight as of Tuesday night to 11 early Wednesday morning, with three more rescued, she said.
But Baybayon said she has no data how many workers were on the bus and how many buses were buried by the landslide. “I’m afraid di ko masasagot yung mga nakasakay sa bus kasi ang Apex Mining Co., Inc. lang po ang may data nun” (I cannot answer how many were on the bus because it is only Apex Mining Co. Inc. that has data on that), she said.
“As far as I know,” she said, there were three buses that were “outgoing” and one had left for the mining site. Buses ferry mine workers to the mining site. She said she wasn’t able to monitor anymore because “nag-evacuate na po ako kasama pamilya ko” (I evacuated with my family).
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO), in a statement posted on its FB page early Wednesday morning, said the landslide buried “initial two buses.” It said 11 injured persons had been brought to the nearest hospitals, “including one critically injured and referred to a hospital in Tagum City.” It was referring to the 11 mine workers who were passengers of the bus.
The MDRRMO said that based on their initial reports, “the landslide was due to the continuous rain brought by the shearline and recently, from the trough of a low pressure area.”
Apex Mining
Rodi Palma, Apex Mining’s Vice President for Legal and Mine Compliance, told MindaNews Wednesday morning that details on the number of buses and workers will be released as soon as they are available.
In a statement on Tuesday night, Apex Mining said the area where the slide happened is outside the mine site of Apex Mining Co. Inc. but this is where the buses that ferry the employees of the mining company wait for its passengers.
It said Apex Mining “is currently working on tracing the whereabouts of the buses dispatched to ferry the outgoing employees” and that the firm was also working with the office of Representative Ruwel Gonzaga which, it said, serves as the command center of the government’s response team, the Provincial Governor’s Office and the Maco and Mawab local government units for rescue operations “both in taking the injured to hospitals and evacuating affected residents to the Mawab Gym, the evacuation center for the residents of Mainit.” It also said rescue work has been hampered by “limited visibility and intermittent slides.”
As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, the company has not issued a statement that would answer the questions raised, particularly on how many workers are missing and how many buses were on the path of the landslide.
But the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom), in its press release emailed to reporters at 10:02 a.m. on Wednesday, said 86 employees of Apex Mining were initially reported trapped but 45 were “successfully rescued” although three of them are in critical condition and required urgent air evacuation.
“Efforts continue to locate and rescue the remaining 41 individuals, as declared by Apex Mines,” EastMinCom said.
EastMinCom noted that 42 persons “remain in an evacuation area, currently inaccessible by vehicle.
” It did not say if the 42 persons are Apex workers or displaced residents.
MindaNews checked with Palma on the numbers given by EastMinCom. He said he will “update you once I get confirmation from mine site people.”
2007 and 2008 landslides
The landslide in another part of the village on August 6, 2007 claimed the lives of 10 persons.
The two landslides in 2008 on the same site of the 2024 landslide struck at 3:45 p.m. on September 6 and 3 a.m. on September 7, according to the September 16, 2008 report of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (now National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council or NDRRMC).
The landslides left 24 persons dead, 31 injured and one missing, 279 families or 1,216 persons stayed at five evacuation centers then. Eighty-three residential houses were totally destroyed. The barangay hall and two Apex Mining bunkhouses also suffered damages.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on September 10, 2008 called for an investigation into the landslides. Bishop Broderick Pabillo, then chair of the CBCP-National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa), said an investigation should be conducted to give justice to the victims of the tragedy and to identify if the incidents were caused by irresponsible mining.
The Alyansa Tigil Mina in a statement on September 11, 2008 called on then Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to “immediately suspend mining operations and conduct an investigation on the possible environmental safeguards that may have been violated or Apex/Crew Mining Corporation may have failed to implement.”
Apex Mining owns and operates the Maco Gold Mine in Davao De Oro and is celebrating its 54th anniversary this year and its golden anniversary or 50th in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The company’s vision/mission statement is to “promote the well-being of all stakeholders by embracing safety as a way of life, achieving world class environment standards, and upholding a holistic approach to wellness” and that they do this “with care and sincere commitment to realize a sustainable, responsible, and globally recognized mining company.” (Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
