Dumlog ends treasure hunters' dreams

CEBU, Philippines – Whether the intent was to look for treasures or to make way for a septic tank, officials of barangay Dumlog in Talisay City yesterday stopped a group of men from continuing with their digging in a private lot for lack of a permit.

Barangay Dumlog chief Charles Basillote, along with his barangay councilmen and tanod, went to the site and warned the diggers to stop and cover the hole within this week.

"Balikon ni nako ugma (today) og wapa gani ni ninyo tabuni, bantay lang mo," said Basillote to Milanio Junio, the diggers' leader.

Basillote said he did not know about the digging until reporters asked him for comment about it yesterday.

Whoever initiated it did not apply for a permit from the barangay, he said.

The hole, with a diameter of about eight meters, is already at least 20 feet deep.

Although it was along the road, the property, which does not have a structure except for a small shanty which serves as a resting place for workers, is gated and secured with a high fence, that even from the outside, neighbors can't tell what is going on inside.

Junio, 51, said the digging has been going on since October supposedly for a septic tank for a planned poultry farm.

But he said they have continued digging when they saw grease surfacing from the water.

"Para ra gyud unta na septic tank, pero nahibong na lang mi nga naay asete ang tubig maong gipaladman pa namo basin na lang diay swertion," Junio told mediamen.

He said the grease appeared when the hole was about 11 feet.

Junio, who is a native of Guingog, Medina, Misamis Oriental, admitted that he had joined a number of treasure-hunting while in Mindanao and that grease in an excavated water could mean that there are treasures buried underneath.

But since October until late November, when the group reportedly stopped digging, no precious items have been discovered except for old timbers and broken pieces of old ceramic plates, Junio said.

Junio, who lead a team of five, also admitted that the work was financed by one Alberto Bansing, brother-in-law of the property owner.

At the site are digging machines generally used by professional treasure hunters, which led some barangay officials there to theorize that the group was really digging for treasures and not for a septic tank.

Basillote said this is not the first case of treasure hunting in his barangay, and he has not heard whether previous diggings in other areas have hit the jackpot.

Talisay was once a colony of the Japanese during the World War II, around the time when General Tomoyuki Yamashita reportedly hid his treasures in the different parts of the country.

Junio however did not say if what they were looking for were Yamashita treasures.

But Yamashita treasures or not, Basillote still maintained that the digging should be stopped and that the hole covered again "within this week" or the diggers will have to face charges. (FREEMAN)