TWO people were confirmed dead after a landslide struck Barangay Shilan in La Trinidad, Benguet amid the combined effects of Tropical Depression Maymay and the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat).
In an interview with reporters, Benguet Police Provincial Office director Colonel Dionisio Bonoy said three individuals were trapped when the landslide occurred around 8 a.m. on Thursday, August 6, 2026. Only one individual, aged 66, survived the incident.
“The area buried by the landslide was a bulaluhan (beef marrow soup eatery). The people who remained inside were the cooks. They were the ones trapped. They probably didn’t have enough time to escape,” he said in Tagalog.
The fatalities were aged 55 and 31.
Bonoy said authorities have enforced a mandatory evacuation in the area to prevent similar incidents, with residents living near the landslide site ordered to leave their homes as continuous rains continue to saturate the ground.
He said the area has been experiencing four consecutive days of rainfall, causing the soil to become waterlogged and unstable.
Although the slope itself is not particularly steep, a large mass of soil located higher up the mountain still poses a threat to nearby communities, Bonoy said. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)