HEADLINES

‘Maymay’ landslide death toll rises

Jing Villamente · Aug 7, 2026, 12:04 AM

Tragic aftermath Landslides north of Luzon on 6 August offer a scene familiar during typhoon season: muddy ground, sober faces, rescuers carrying a victim’s body on a stretcher retrieved from a landslide at a village in La Trinidad, Benguet province. Heavy rains driven by a tropical depression have raked the country’s north and forced school closures. — Photograph courtesy of Agence France-Presse

The death toll from tropical storm “Maymay” and the enhanced southwest monsoon rose Thursday after two siblings were killed in a rockslide in Rizal, while two cooks died in a landslide that buried part of a roadside eatery in Benguet, as widespread flooding, evacuations and road closures continued across Luzon.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) confirmed the two latest fatalities in Rodriguez, Rizal, where a rockslide struck a house around noon Wednesday. The agency said the deaths are still being validated to determine whether they were directly caused by the weather disturbance and have yet to be included in its official situation reports.

OCD Deputy Spokesperson Diego Agustin Mariano said the storm’s effects extended far beyond its forecast track because of the southwest monsoon.

“The storm is not affecting only the areas along its path in Northern and Central Luzon. It is pulling in the southwest monsoon, which is bringing heavy rains to other parts of the country,” Mariano said.

“That is why this is challenging. The effects are scattered and not confined to the typhoon’s track. We are seeing impacts as far as Region 9,” he added.

Cooks perish

Earlier Thursday, two cooks were killed while another survived after a rain-induced landslide buried part of JML Bulalohan in Barangay Shilan, La Trinidad, Benguet.

Police Col. Dionisio Bonoy, director of the Benguet Provincial Police Office, identified the fatalities as Dino Agbuya and 31-year-old Lemar Ciano. Jerry Agbuya, 66, was rescued and taken to Benguet General Hospital.

Waitress Lea Gawiden Ciano told investigators they were working when Dino Agbuya suddenly shouted for help before the mountainside collapsed, burying the three cooks.

Four other people inside the eatery escaped.

“Two were already dead when rescuers reached them. Only one survived. Those trapped were the cooks who apparently had no chance to run,” Bonoy said.

He said the eatery stood below an excavated mountainside where a retaining wall failed to hold back the rain-soaked soil.

Clearing the way Community volunteers and barangay workers clear debris from a road in Barangay Tadiangan, Tuba, Benguet, on 6 August 2026, following landslides triggered by heavy rains. — Photograph courtesy of the Tadiangan BLGU

Displaced families

The OCD said 80,633 people, or 23,946 families, have been affected by Maymay and the southwest monsoon in the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol, the Cordillera Administrative Region, Zamboanga Peninsula and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that 2,215 families, or 6,929 individuals, have been displaced, with many taking shelter in 39 evacuation centers after flooding hit 83 areas.

Twelve houses sustained partial damage, while government assistance reached P1.38 million.

Malacañang also suspended classes at all levels and government work in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bulacan, Zambales and Bataan under Memorandum Circular 122, while small seacraft operations in Aurora remained suspended because of rough seas.

In Mountain Province, 12 families, or 39 people, were evacuated as heavy rains triggered slope collapses, mudflows and rockfalls, forcing the closure of two national roads and restricting traffic on two others as clearing operations continued.