Landslide hits village in eastern Bohol town

TAGBILARAN CITY — A landslide, estimated to be a kilometer long, struck a village near the boundary of the eastern Bohol towns of Duero and Guindulman, eclipsing a portion of the four-kilometer Guinsularan River, authorities said.

Duero councilor Robert Peligro expressed fear that the landslide might duplicate the soil erosion that continues to hound Barangay Mayana in Jagna town.

Experts have predicted that the land movement in that mountainous part of Jagna that began last July would still occur in the next three years.

Peligro, however, said the landslide in his town was "different" from the Mayana phenomenon because "we (did not) hear any sound from underground."

Duero residents, particularly those in Barangay Lobogon, discovered the landslide last Oct. 20 but ignored it since it did not cause damage to their farms and houses.

But municipal officials, during a recent survey, found out that the soil and debris carried by the landslide have covered a portion of the Guinsularan River, triggering a rise in its water level.

"I will pass a resolution that will ban people from getting into the river as the water continues to rise," Peligro said.

A similar landslide occurred in that part of Barangay Lobogan about 15 years ago, he said.