LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET ? If Popeye becomes like Superman on spinach, these guys get high on biscuits.

But it?s no ordinary biscuit that turns them on.

The ?high-energy biscuits? distributed by the United Nations have become a favorite provision of the province?s rescue workers and disaster response teams, who said the rations gave them extra strength as Benguet province prepares for yet another typhoon.

Many have begun to ask for more, convinced that the biscuits, brought in by UN relief teams as part of the world body?s food aid to landslide and typhoon victims, are what they are cracked up to be.

The volunteers have been working round the clock on roads and slopes in various Benguet towns to prevent landslides when Typhoon ?Ramil? (international codename: Lupit) hits shore this week.

Small-scale miners working overtime to clear debris from a water tunnel in the landslide-hit community of Little Kibungan in Barangay Puguis here swore the biscuits made them alert and awake.

?It really boosts our energy,? said Clayton Sagaysay, a small-scale miner from Tuba town.

Taste good, too

Sagaysay, 49, is the team leader of the Camp 6 Explorers? Small-Scale Mining Association, one of 64 small-scale mining groups belonging to the Benguet Federation of Small-Scale Miners Inc. (BFSSMI) that volunteered to work on the tunnel.

Around 50 small-scale miners have been working in batches to clear the 60-meter tunnel buried by mudslides in the wake of Tropical Storm ?Pepeng?(international codename: Parma).

Miners from Philex Mining Corp. were also on hand to help the small-scale miners in clearing a tunnel, which had served as the village?s drainage before the landslide hit.

?The biscuits tasted good. They would make the stomach full and keep one awake and ready to work amid the debris,? BFSSMI president Lomino Kaniteng said.

In demand

The UN World Food Program distributes the biscuits in its relief missions worldwide.

The United Nations delivered 500 boxes of biscuits here on Wednesday and rescuers working here and in Itogon, Buguias, Kapangan and Buguias towns received their share.

Sandy Calado, executive assistant at the office of Gov. Nestor Fongwan, said the office had been swamped by requests for more of the biscuits.

He said one Benguet mayor wanted more boxes to be delivered to his town.

The biscuits? wrappers are marked ?Not for Sale.? Each pack contains four biscuits and weighs 100 grams.

Danger areas

Seven Philippine Navy personnel arrived at the provincial capitol on Wednesday carrying rubber boats for use in rescue operations.

Fongwan said he had asked the Navy to bring the boats as part of the province?s preparations for Ramil. Aside, from the biscuits, of course.

Fongwan gave strict orders to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the municipal disaster coordinating councils to monitor areas prone to landslides or are potential sources of flashfloods.

Among the danger zones are Little Kibungan and Buyagan Central in this capital town, Ambassador and Sto. Niño in Tublay town, Ambabag in Buguias, Loakan and Luneta in Itogon, Poblacion in Mankayan, and the critical areas along Halsema Highway between Atok and Buguias towns.

Missing body

At least 77 residents of Little Kibungan were killed in the Oct. 8 landslide that wiped out a section of the mountainside community. Policemen were still looking for one body even as the miners were busy declogging the culverts.

Fongwan said the culverts could become sources of floods if these were not cleared.

?The waters could go anywhere in the nearby villages and we do not want that to happen,? he said.