MANILA, Philippines (Updated October 26, 9:05 a.m.) — A heavy landslide in Talisay, Batangas, buried 14 individuals, leading to their deaths, as confirmed by the Batangas Provincial Police Office (BPPO). The number is expected to rise as retrieval operations continue.
According to the Police Regional Office in Calabarzon, the landslide occurred on Thursday, October 24, due to the heavy rains brought by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine (international name: Trami).
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BPPO Director Jacinto Malinao Jr. said in an interview with DZBB Super Radyo on Thursday, October 25, that the bodies of the 14 deceased have been physically retrieved.
He also mentioned that search efforts are ongoing for additional individuals at the landslide site, specifically a mother and child, which would raise the confirmed death toll to 16, according to Malinao.
According to Talisay Mayor Nestor Natanauan, the number of affected families has reached 311, including 1,457 individuals at evacuation centers.
“Sa pagdaan ng bagyong Kristine, lubos na naapektuhan ang bayan ng Talisay. Sa loob ng dalawang araw na pananalasa nito, nagkaroon ng pagbaha at pagguho ng lupa sa ilang barangay,” he said in a Facebook post.
(With the passing of Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, the town of Talisay was severely affected. During its two days of onslaught, there were floods and landslides in several barangays.)
Natanauan said that the local government unit is continually monitoring the situation and conducting retrieval operations for missing individuals.
In Batangas, Malinao said that a total of 33 individuals have been confirmed dead as of 2:45 p.m. on Thursday. There are still 11 missing people and eight dead in Laurel, Batangas.
Talisay is also frequented by quarrying and mining operations. In 2021, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) won a case against six miners for illegally extracting palanas minerals valued at P2.46 million in Barangay Banga, Talisay.
The Mining and Geosciences Bureau in Calabarzon, in collaboration with the DENR and law enforcement agencies, apprehended them, along with two others, in December 2019.
As of 8 a.m. on Friday, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that the affected population due to Severe Tropical Storm Kristine has reached 2,656,446.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the Calabarzon Region, according to the Office of Civil Defense, stands at 15, accounting for nearly a third of the total recorded deaths of 46 as of 7 a.m.
State weather bureau PAGASA reported that Kristine left the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) at 2 p.m. on Friday, October 25.
Quarrying and the lack of accountability
According to environmental group Kalikasan, locals have questioned previous cases of illegal quarrying in Talisay, saying that it was impossible for apprehended quarries to have expanded without the knowledge of local officials.
"Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case. We see this on a grander scale in many areas of the country," Kalikasan researcher Enjo Sarmiento told Philstar.com in a message.
Worse, he said, is how people are often the only ones blamed for disasters, citing reasons such as overpopulation or poor waste disposal.
Some officials would even "whitewash" a disaster by shifting the blame to excessive rains and climate change instead of excessive quarrying and mining, he added.
"But that's the thing: every little inaction, every little abuse they get away with, these all immediately become thousands of papercuts that make us bleed of our livelihoods, of our natural resources, and worse, of our very lives," Sarmiento said.
Kalikasan also emphasized the country's need for a responsible and sustainable mining law, such as the People's Mining Bill which has only reached committee approval at the House of Representatives. — with reports from Jean Mangaluz