Four people were killed in separate landslides in Benguet and Rizal as continuous heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Maymay and the enhanced Southwest Monsoon drenched parts of Luzon, authorities reported Thursday.
In La Trinidad, Benguet, a landslide buried the JML Bulalohan eatery in Barangay Shilan at around 9 a.m. Provincial police director Col. Dionisio Bonoy confirmed that cooks Dino Binay-an Agbuya, 55, and Lemar Gawiden Ciano, 31, died on the spot inside the kitchen. First responders rescued a third cook, Jerry Binay-an Agbuya, 55.
“Three persons were buried and are already accounted for. One is alive and two died on the spot,” Bonoy said. He noted that four consecutive days of persistent rainfall had loosened the slope, confirming that the tragedy was “due to tropical cyclone Maymay”.
Meanwhile, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) information officer Diego Mariano reported two additional fatalities from a separate landslide in Rodriguez, Rizal, which occurred at 12:20 p.m. Wednesday.
While Benguet was directly hit by Maymay, Rizal was impacted by the monsoon rains enhanced by the storm. Mariano clarified that authorities are currently validating the details to determine whether the four deaths can be officially attributed to Maymay and the enhanced monsoon, “hence (they are) not yet included in (official casualty) reports.”