ITOGON, Benguet — Hundreds of residents living in an already sunken village here have decided to abandon their place and start a new life in a more stable relocation area to be provided by the Benguet provincial government or the municipal government.

After a huge portion of Luneta, Luacan here, sank at the height of typhoon “Pepeng,” the people decided to leave their place for fear of a worst case scenario that could happen once typhoon “Ramil,” which has been predicted to bring rains three times more than Pepeng, strikes the Cordillera.

Luacan has been identified as a danger zone in the previous years because numerous tunnels are located underneath it plus the fact that the blocked diversion tunnels of the Benguet Corporation (BC) have worsened the situation last year.

The sinking of the village was aggravated during the height of typhoon Niña in September, 2008 when over 120 structures, including a public school and a Church, were declared beyond human occupancy after over 50 hectares of the area caved in because of too much water pressure coming from the blocked mine tunnels of the company.

Despite such incident, hundreds of residents still insisted to stay in their houses despite repeated warnings from geologists that the area is now a no man’s land due to eminent danger posed by the cracks in the soil and rock formations where their houses are erected.

Luneta is considered to be one of the major sites of the lucrative small-scale mining activities due to the mineral-rich soil formation which had been the bread and butter of the people living in the community.

The residents decided to flee their well-loved place after the onslaught of typhoon Pepeng because 10 persons died and several others remain missing when another huge portion of the place buried 14 structures located at the foot of the mountain.

Hundreds of displaced villagers have already sought refuge with their relatives living in safer areas of the town and nearby places since they have to contend with looking for other sources of livelihood after the lucrative pocket mining has become too dangerous.

The Benguet provincial government and the municipal government are still working out the appropriate relocation sites for the displaced residents upon orders of President Arroyo since local officials no longer want to put to risk the lives of their constituents.

Because of the sinking in Luneta, other sitios of Luacan are now also in danger of being wiped out from the areas of jurisdiction of the town due to the expanded danger zone.