Dozens missing after Philippine landslide
At least one person has been killed and 40 more are missing after a landslide struck homes and destroyed mining tunnels in the southern Philippines.
Mud and rocks buried miners’ houses in the remote village in Compostela Valley province on the southern island of Mindanao.
The landslide also caused the collapse of access tunnels used by small-scale miners to extract gold.
To put this into context, the Philippines has one of the largest mineral reserves in Southeast Asia.
However, “small-scale” mining in the Philippines is more often than not glorified rock gathering done without regard for regulation or the environment. The national business environment is indeed so restrictive - literally constitutionally requiring a local majority shareholder - that even the larger mining companies that do try to follow regulation do not find it profitable to do so when their local backers are taking advantage of loopholes.