All 13 residents buried when a massive landslide swept through Guisad Surong in Baguio City have now been accounted for — ten of them dead, three pulled out alive — after rescue and retrieval operations were formally closed in the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 12. The Baguio City Police Office and the Incident Command Center made the announcement, marking the end of nearly two days of grueling work under dangerous and unstable conditions.
Authorities confirmed that by 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, the remains of all ten fatalities had been successfully retrieved from the debris, while the three survivors were reported to be receiving medical care at a local hospital, according to the Baguio City Police Office.
Collapse Buried Three Homes and Five Families Along Guisad Road
The landslide tore through residential structures along Guisad Road in Guisad Surong just after 7 p.m. on Sunday, August 9, burying three houses occupied by five families under a wall of earth and debris, according to the Baguio City Public Information Office. The suddenness of the collapse left residents with little time to escape.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong confirmed that approximately 150 rescuers were mobilized to the site. He described the terrain as dangerously steep and unstable, noting that crews were closely monitoring the hillside throughout the operation. Additional equipment — including a backhoe and a K9 search dog — was brought in specifically to deal with a large concrete slab that had proven to be the most formidable obstacle rescuers faced during the operation.
Three individuals were pulled out alive: a 27-year-old man, a 27-year-old woman, and a 77-year-old pastor. All three were transported to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center for treatment. Among the recovered remains were those of a mother and her child, found still holding each other when discovered by rescue teams.
Five Students Among the Victims
The Department of Education confirmed Tuesday that five of the ten people killed in the collapse were young students. The agency called on the broader education community to offer prayers for the grieving families and for the Cordillera region as a whole. In response to the tragedy, Baguio City suspended classes from preschool through Grade 12 in all public and private schools.
PNP Works Alongside Multiple Agencies on the Ground
The Philippine National Police, in an official statement issued under PNP Chief Police General Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr., reported that police personnel worked hand in hand with partner agencies and local officials throughout the emergency response. The PNP said officers remained on the ground even after retrieval operations concluded, continuing to assist affected families and support the broader emergency management effort.
Mayor Magalong publicly commended the tireless work of rescue teams, volunteers, and all partner agencies involved, and extended gratitude to local residents who brought food, clothing, and supplies to support both displaced families and rescue workers. The mayor also issued a strong warning that the landslide site remains hazardous, and disclosed that Baguio authorities are actively monitoring 13 other landslide-prone locations across the city amid persistent heavy rainfall.
Death Toll Across the Cordillera Reaches 14
The tragedy in Guisad Surong is the deadliest single incident in a wider series of slope failures that have struck the Cordillera region following days of relentless rain. According to authorities, at least 14 people have died in landslides across the region as of August 11, with 13 others injured. No individuals remained missing as of that date.
Beyond the Baguio fatalities, two people were killed when a landslide buried a roadside eatery in Shilan, La Trinidad, and two relatives died in Paoay, Atok after being buried while shoveling mud near their home. The cumulative impact of the storms has left at least 15 road sections impassable and 19 communities without electricity, as swollen rivers and ongoing slope failures continue to isolate highland villages.
On the national level, the PNP deployed 800 personnel and ordered all field units in affected zones to remain on heightened alert and to intensify preemptive evacuations. The Office of Civil Defense said Tuesday it was still verifying 19 deaths connected to Tropical Depressions Luis and Maymay and the southwest monsoon, with roughly 2.2 million people affected across the Philippines.
A Site With a Devastating History
The latest collapse has stirred painful memories of the October 18, 1967 landslide that struck the same Guisad Surong area during Typhoon Trining — internationally designated as Carla — killing dozens of residents. Weather records show Baguio received 1,216 millimeters of rainfall within a single 24-hour period from October 17 to 18 of that year, one of the most extreme rainfall events ever recorded in the city.
Community advocates and disaster risk professionals say the recurring tragedies in this part of Baguio reflect unresolved dangers facing residents who live on steep and geologically active slopes, dangers that are compounded every time successive weather systems bring prolonged, intense rainfall to the highlands of Benguet and Baguio City.
By the Numbers
- 10 — confirmed fatalities retrieved at the Guisad Surong landslide site
- 3 — survivors rescued and hospitalized, including a 77-year-old pastor
- 13 — total residents initially buried; all accounted for as of August 11
- 5 — student victims identified by the Department of Education
- 150 — rescuers deployed to the site, per Mayor Magalong
- 14 — total Cordillera landslide deaths reported as of August 11
- 15 — road sections rendered impassable by floods and slope failures
- 800 — PNP personnel deployed nationally in response to the emergency
- 2.2 million — people affected nationwide by Luis, Maymay, and the southwest monsoon, per the Office of Civil Defense
- 1,216 mm — rainfall logged in Baguio over 24 hours during the catastrophic 1967 Typhoon Trining event
Why This Matters
The Guisad Surong landslide stands as the single deadliest site incident in the current wave of weather-driven disasters hitting the Cordillera, with five of the ten dead confirmed as students and entire families buried inside their homes. The event draws renewed attention to the documented and persistent vulnerability of communities established on Baguio's steep mountain slopes — a risk that city authorities acknowledge remains unresolved, with 13 additional sites currently under active monitoring. Taken alongside the Office of Civil Defense's figures of at least 19 national deaths and 2.2 million people affected by the ongoing monsoon season, the disaster signals the deepening humanitarian toll of successive tropical weather systems battering the Philippines.
Source: Originally reported by BreakingNewsNegros.com / Balita wire reports