SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur — Rescuers have recovered two bodies after a landslide buried six people near a girder bridge at Kilometer 31 in the remote village of Mahayahay, San Luis town on Sunday evening, September 14.

Barangay chairperson Sergio Manlomate told radio reporter Ranelo “Boy” Abad of government-run DXGP 89.7 FM that the landslide was triggered after a driver of a “Saddam” truck tried to pull out a fallen tree blocking the road to the bridge, inadvertently loosening massive rocks and mud from the mountainside.
A “Saddam” truck is a colloquial term for an old 6 x 6 military truck used to carry workers of logging companies that operated in the 1980s in the hinterlands of San Luis.
A joint retrieval team composed of local police, Army soldiers, and personnel from the Municipal isaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) recovered the remains of a boy identified as John Paul Abunda, and Junard Gonzales, a truck driver.
As of 1 p.m. Monday, rescuers were still searching for the four other victims.
Manlomate said John Paul had accompanied his grandparents, Helen and Gerry Abunda, to gather firewood and make charcoal under the bridge when the landslide struck. The elderly couple remains missing.
Another truck driver, Elwin Mantibalan, and motorcycle driver Macjoe Nuer remain missing.
In a social media post, resident Marry-Anne Salayao Garcia recalled that strong winds and heavy rains had damaged several homes in the same village around this time last year.
Municipal Engineer Marlon Aclan told DXGP anchor John Sahay that days of continuous rains had saturated the soil, making the area prone to landslides.
The affected sitio is a mountainous community long identified as highly vulnerable to landslides during the rainy season. (Chris V. Panganiban)