MONKAYO, Dava de Oro — A midnight landslide struck Purok 5 in Barangay Rizal, Monkayo, leaving two family members dead and another child still missing as of Friday, February 20, 2026.

Authorities confirmed that a father and one of his children were killed after a mass of soil collapsed onto their home while they were asleep. Initial reports indicate the incident occurred around 12 a.m., burying the house and trapping the victims inside. Search and rescue teams continue operations to locate the third child who remains unaccounted for.

Officials linked the landslide to continuous and widespread rainfall across Mindanao caused by the shear line. The prolonged downpour saturated the soil, weakening slopes and making hillside communities particularly vulnerable to sudden ground failure.

Tragedies like this often unfold quietly — not during storms’ peak intensity but after hours of steady rain that erodes stability beneath homes. In many rural areas, houses are built close to slopes out of necessity, where safer land is scarce and livelihoods depend on proximity to farms and roads.

While natural forces triggered the collapse, disasters rarely stem from weather alone. Settlement patterns, land use planning, and hazard awareness all shape whether heavy rainfall becomes a crisis. Communities frequently rebuild in the same areas due to economic limits, turning temporary danger zones into permanent neighborhoods.

As search efforts continue, the incident becomes more than a single family’s loss; it highlights a recurring cycle in disaster-prone regions — warning, impact, recovery, and rebuilding in the same risk zones. When landslides repeatedly follow heavy rains, is it truly unpredictable nature — or a risk we already understand but struggle to prevent? (Larawan mula: Ferdilino R. Ortiz / Facebook)