LEAD: Rescue efforts on for up to 100 missing in Philippine landslide

Jan 6, 2012, 8:26 GMT

Manila - Rescuers on Friday dug through mud and debris in a search for up to 100 missing people in a landslide that buried a gold-rush village in the southern Philippines, killing at least 25.

Benito Ramos, administrator of the Office of Civil Defence, said dozens of miners, soldiers and volunteers were working double time to find the missing under the rubble.

'The instruction is to recover most if not all of the missing,' he said. 'We are still optimistic some of the missing are still alive.'

The landslide struck at dawn on Thursday, burying at least 50 shanty houses in the village of Napnapan in Pantukan town, Compostela Valley province, 930 kilometres south of Manila. Sixteen people were rescued from the rubble while 25 were confirmed killed.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who was dispatched to the area by President Benigno Aquino III to investigate the accident, ordered the dismantling of mining tunnels and shanty houses in the area.

'Mining tunnels in risk areas will be closed,' he said. 'Houses in risk areas will be demolished.'

Robredo also ordered gold processing plants in the area to relocate within three months, adding that government security forces would be assigned to help local authorities enforce the directives.

Local officials have stressed they had evacuated residents from the village following a landslide in a nearby village in April that killed 13 people.

But they said hard-headed miners returned with their families despite the risks.

The landslide occurred as the southern Philippines was still struggling to recover from floods that killed more than 1,000 people and wiped out entire villages in December.