How the Iligan disaster happened

The massive flooding that hit Iligan City at the height of Tropical Storm “Sendong” was a natural calamity made worse and a lot more fatal by illegal activities.

The three culprits were illegal logging, mining and quarrying, according to Brig. Gen. Roland Amarille, commander of Task Force Makalintad (Maranao word for peace), which was at the forefront of the rescue, relief and recovery efforts in Iligan.

The deadly mix resulted in  tragedy. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay, a University of the Philippines geologist, likened the deluge to a tsunami, but with more destructive debris that tore everything in its path.

Bridge blocked

Amarille said the logs from illegal logging along Kapai and Bayog Rivers, and mud from illegal mining along Bayog River accumulated at Mandulog River, where they were mixed with more mud from illegal quarrying along the Mandulog River. (See infographics.)

Mandulog River serves as one of the main drains of the mountains in Iligan and Lanao del Sur where most of the storm water collected by watersheds passes through before reaching the sea.

Amarille said that when the mix of logs, mud and debris clogged the Hinaplanon Bridge in Iligan, it turned the bridge into something like a dam which diverted the flow of tons of logs, mud, trees and eroded debris, and flooded other areas along the river.

Lagmay, in an article in Talk of the Town on Jan. 29, said that floodwaters 7 to 10 meters high rampaged beyond the banks of the river and wiped out villages with incomprehensible force.

One Iligan resident estimated that the surge reached as far as a kilometer west toward the city proper and east toward Barangay Santa Filomena.

Burst like a dam

The Hinaplanon Bridge later gave way and burst like a dam. Swirling logs, mud and debris slammed into and swept away houses and people in Barangay Hinaplanon then rammed the  low-lying Bayug Island and Orchids Subdivision in Barangay Santiago near Mandulog River’s mouth.

Amarille said that was not the end of it. The wall of water, logs, mud and debris was repulsed by high tide and the heavily silted delta.

Pushed back

The water was pushed back and on its return to the sea, it swept away more houses and people along its path like a tsunami.

Cesar Raude, a village councilor of Barangay San Roque (formerly Barinaut), one of the villages along Mandulog River, said that at midnight of Dec. 16, he and some fellow residents were at the foot of Hinaplanon Bridge which connected their village to Barangay Hinaplanon on the other side of the river.

Used to flooding up to about half a meter, they were calmly watching the water flow. They noticed that logs from upstream combined with mud and debris of uprooted trees, washed away by floodwaters, created some sort of a dam at the bridge.

“The flow of the water was blocked and it began to surge on the banks and then everywhere,” Raude said.

They all ran for their lives.

Hinaplanon chair Veronico Echavez, who attended a Christmas party,  was trapped by fast-rising water on the highway, just about 100 meters from his home. He was lucky to be able to climb atop a 10-wheel truck, where with six other people, he saw the horror of it all.

He could see the water surge everywhere from the direction of the already submerged Hinaplanon Bridge.

He heard the gushing and swishing of floodwaters. The water “was noisy,” which to him seemed to swell not by the minute but by the second.

He also saw and heard the logs whirling, twirling and making  “bang! bang!” sounds, like an Armalite firing several rounds, when they rammed houses, vehicles and everything in their path.

Like end of world

By around 2 a.m. it all seemed like the end of the world. Water was everywhere. Echavez called Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz for help. But he was advised to do the best he can as many other barangays were also flooded.

Then, amid the crashing of logs and swishing water, he heard a loud boom. So loud, it was like lightning and thunderclap.

Hinaplanon Bridge was breached and there was a roaring sound as the bulk of the logs, mud and debris accelerated toward Bayug Island and Orchids Subdivision. Free to follow its  usual path, the flood began to recede.

The destruction of the bridge was both a boon and a bane. The logs, mud and debris rammed Orchids Subdivision and almost wiped out Bayug Island, but spared the rest of the city from further inundation.

Echavez said, “If the bridge was not destroyed, the whole city would have been submerged.”

On hindsight, Raude said, that if it was just plain floodwater, with no logs or mud to clog the bridge and create a dam-like effect, it would have been just like in the song “Unchained Melody,” a  lonely river along its usual path  flowing to the sea.

Reunited

By 4 a.m., Echavez was reunited with members of his family. He cried, happy to see them all alive. He was also full of thanks to Danilo and  Evaristo Zalsos, Gabriel Diala and JV Parmacio who braved the rising waters to wake up neighbors and bring to safety his family.

The rescuers were just in time, for soon after the rescue, logs rammed the Echavez home.

Amarille said that without the logs, many would not have been killed as most people were already safe on rooftops. The logs hit and crushed to death these people.

The Iligan River also swelled and flooded a number of barangays on the western side of the city. But residents there did not have to contend with logs. According to Amarille, by some miracle, Task Force Makalintad had a disaster-preparedness training a week before Sendong, so its personnel were able to use what they had learned to save themselves and other people.

A day after the tragedy, a reconnaissance flight saw a 10-kilometer long and about 50- to 100-meter-wide line of logs along the coastline from Iligan  to Naawan and Initao, Misamis Oriental.

Emmanuel Salibay of the Maria Cristina Eagles Club, who was on the flight, was so saddened and dismayed. His group has been active in reforestation  and he knows that it takes about 30 years for a tree to fully grow and just three minutes to cut it down with a chainsaw.

A councilman from Barangay Lanipao said that illegal logging was rampant not only along Kapai River but also along Bayog River where the still-forested areas have wild boars, big snakes,  monkeys and lots of red lauan (a tree species). One area is said to be part of the timber license granted to VicMar Development Corp.

Loggers, sawmills

He said the modus operandi of illegal loggers and “investors”  ran like this: investors would give P100,000, the illegal loggers would then cut down trees in the forest and use carabao to bring the logs to the banks of the river, which serves as a “log pond.” When the level of the river is high, the logs would be floated downstream to Hinaplanon where they would be “fished out” at P50 per log.

There were more than 20 bansohan (sawmills), especially in Cabaru. Processed lumber in container vans were shipped to Cebu or Manila. He said all the sawmills were swept away by the flood, machines and all. A number of people saw this as a case of punitive justice.

White, black boats

There are stories circulating in Iligan about people seeing white boats before and during the tragedy. One story said an old man in Hinaplanon saw a honking big, white boat leading the onslaught of logs.

Another story was of a child survivor saying she saw two big boats—one white and the other black, both manned by stern-looking, tall white people. She said she was picked up by the crew on the white boat. Her parents who were later found dead were picked up by those on the black boat.

Another story by an old woman was that she saw a week before Sendong a boat going up the mountains.

Omen of death

Old folk tales of avenging dili ingon nato (not-like-us beings) or engkanto (enchanted beings)? A native of Pugaan said that it was an old belief that the boat, especially one that goes not to the sea but to the mountain, was an omen of death.

The review of logging, mining and quarrying policies, permits and regulations is once again being talked about as part of the need to update a natural resource-use policy.

Mujiv Hataman, acting governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, has ordered a total log ban, issued a moratorium on the issuance of private land-timber permits, tapped the Task Force Ranao for the campaign, closed down a number of sawmills in Lanao del Sur, and charged a number of individuals with illegal logging.

Mayor Cruz has ordered a review of mining and quarrying permits.

Among other things, Amarille recommends the dredging of the Mandulog River delta. Echavez says disaster-preparedness training is a must.

The to-do list aimed at avoiding another tragedy is long. But it has to be done. Else, an old man or woman or a young girl may again see the omen.

(Minerva Generalao, head of Inquirer Research, was born and raised in Iligan City.)

By the numbers

(Sendong’s damage to life and property)

1,268 people killed

490 in Iligan

6,071 injured

181 missing

14,883 destroyed houses

37,552 partially damaged houses

P1.4 B damage to infrastructure

P273 M damage to agriculture