A Philippine town in the shadow of a volcano is hit by landslides it never expected

TALISAY, Philippines (AP) — As a storm pounded his rural home, Raynaldo Dejucos asked his wife and children to stay indoors and keep safe from a lightning strike or slippery roads.

One thing the 36-year-old didn't mention was landslides. In the lakeside town of Talisay in the northeastern Philippines, the 40,000 inhabitants have never experienced them in their lifetime.

But after leaving home last Thursday to check his fish cages in the nearby Lake Taal, an avalanche of mud, boulders and toppled trees cascaded down a steep ridge and buried about a dozen houses, including his.

Talisay, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Manila, was one of several towns ravaged by Tropical Storm Trami, the deadliest of 11 storms to hit the Philippines this year. The storm veered toward Vietnam across the South China Sea after leaving at least 152 people dead and missing. More than 5.9 million people were in the storm's path in northern and central provinces.

“My wife was breastfeeding our 2-month-old baby,” Dejucos told The Associated Press on Saturday in a municipal basketball gym, where the five white coffins of his entire family were laid side by side with those of a dozen other victims. “My children were holding each other on the bed when we found them.”

"I was calling out the names of my wife and our children repeatedly. Where are you? Where are you?”

It's the latest reality check in the Philippines, long regarded as one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, in the era of climate change extremes.

Located between the Pacific Ocean and South China Sea, the Philippine archipelago is regarded as the doorway for about 20 typhoons and storms that barrel through its 7,600 islands each year, some with devastating force. The nation of more than 110 million people also lies in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where many volcanic eruptions and most of the world’s earthquakes occur.

A deadly mix of increasingly destructive weather blamed on climate change, and economic desperation that has forced people to live and work in previously off-limits disaster zones, has made many communities across Southeast Asia disasters waiting to happen. Villages have sprouted in landslide-prone mountainsides, on active volcano slopes, on earthquake fault lines and on coastlines often inundated by tidal surges.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore, who heads the U.N. disaster-mitigation agency, warned during a recent conference in the Philippines that disasters, including those caused by increasingly ferocious storms, were threatening more people and could derail the region’s economic progress if governments don’t invest more in disaster prevention.

The picturesque resort town of Talisay lies north of Taal, one of the country's 24 most active volcanoes nestled on an island in the middle of a lake. Fruit and vegetable farms have flourished on the fertile land, which is also a key tourist destination.

Thousands of poor settlers like Dejucos have descended on Talisay over the decades, and its villages have expanded inland away from the lake toward a 32-kilometer (20-mile) long ridge with an average height of 600 meters (2,000 feet).

Fernan Cosme, a 59-year-old village councilor, told the AP that the towering ridge at Talisay’s northern fringes had never posed any major risks, at least in his lifetime. The key worry has always been the volcano, which has been restive on and off since the 1500s.

"Many take the risks,” Cosme said of Talisay villagers, who have grown accustomed to Taal's volatility and survived in its shadow.

In 2020, Taal's eruption displaced hundreds of thousands and sent clouds of ash all the way to Manila, shutting the main international airport.

Kervin de Torres, a carpenter, wanted a safer community for his daughter Kisha, a high school student, but he and his wife separated and she bought a house close to the Talisay ridge, where she lived with Kisha. His daughter was in the house when she was buried by the landslide. The mother survived.

A distraught de Torres showed his daughter's picture to police officers who on Saturday searched for the last two missing people — Kisha and a baby from another family.

Three hours later, a backhoe dug up school uniforms dangling from plastic hangers, in a spot where Kisha was believed to have been entombed by the debris.

Dozens of police and volunteers dug furiously with shovels until a foot was seen in the mud. De Torres wept when the remains of a young girl were placed in a black body bag. He nodded when asked if it was his daughter. Teary-eyed residents expressed their sympathies.

Doris Echin, a 35-year-old mother, said she nearly died when the mudslide swamped her up to the waist as she darted out of her hut, carrying her two daughters. She said she prayed hard and managed to plod through.

Standing beside her hut, which was half-buried in mud as police and emergency personnel searched the area with backhoes and sniffer dogs, Echin worried about her family's fate.

"If we relocate, where will we get the money to build a new house? Which employer will give us jobs?” she asked. “If we get to rebuild and stay, we’ll be living between a volcano and a crumbling mountain.”

Associated Press journalists Aaron Favila and Vicente Gonzales contributed to this report.

Residents try to recover belongings from their damaged homes after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A body is recovered by rescuers after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines which thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers work at the site after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines, leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents clear out mud from their homes after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents try to recover belongings from their damaged homes after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Residents clear out mud from their homes after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers work at the site after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers work at the site after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Volunteers continue rescue operations after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

Residents try to recover belongings from their damaged homes after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Volunteers continue rescue operations after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

A resident sits beside belongings from their damaged home after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers work at the site after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A villager takes a photo of a damaged car after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Raynaldo Dejucos speaks beside coffins of the family he lost in a landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami during their wake at a basketball court on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, in Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Rescuers work at the site after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

A villager watches rescue operations after a recent landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Trami struck Talisay, Batangas province, Philippines leaving thousands homeless and several villagers dead on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’ s conservative ruling party braced for a blow to its comfortable majority in the lower house of parliament in Sunday’s elections as a result of public rage over financial scandals and discontent over a stagnant economy.

According to exit polls by the NHK public television, Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party is certain to lose the majority in the 465-seat house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. It's still unclear if his ruling coalition with the junior partner Komeito can retain a majority.

The results could weaken Ishiba's grip on power and if he can't get his party's policies through parliament, he may need to find a third partner.

Ishiba took office on Oct. 1, replacing Fumio Kishida, who resigned after failing to pacify the public over widespread slush fund practices among Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. Ishiba immediately ordered a snap election in hopes of shoring up support by using his outspoken, reformist image.

A total of 1,344 candidates, including a record 314 women, are running for office. Early results are expected within hours.

Ishiba has set a goal of retaining a majority of 233 seats for the ruling coalition between the LDP and its Buddhist-backed Komeito. NHK exit polls indicated that the LDP alone was expected to win 153 to 219 seats, down sharply from 247, a comfortable single majority it held previously. Komeito was expected to win 21 to 35 seats.

Ishiba, in his final speeches Saturday in Tokyo, apologized over his party’s mishandling of funds and pledged “to restart as an equal, fair, humble and honest party.” He said only the LDP’s ruling coalition can responsibly run Japan with its experience and dependable policies.

Once a popular politician known for criticism of even his own party's policies, Ishiba has also seen support for his weeks-old Cabinet plunge.

The biggest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is led by centrist leader Yoshihiko Noda who briefly served as prime minister during the LDP’s 2009-2012 descent from power.

Noda's party is expected to make significant gains, with exit polls suggesting a huge increase to as many as 191 seats from 98. Noda says Sunday’s election is a rare chance for a change of government, which will be the most effective political reform, though his party has trouble finding other opposition groups with which to cooperate.

At a downtown Tokyo polling station early Sunday, a number of voters said they considered the corruption scandal and economic measures. But analysts say Ishiba's LDP was expected to remain the top party in Japan’s parliament as voters are skeptical about the opposition's ability and inexperience.

“The public’s criticisms against the slush funds scandal has intensified, and it won’t go away easily,” said Izuru Makihara, a University of Tokyo professor of politics and public policy. “There is a growing sense of fairness and people are rejecting privileges for politicians.” Makihara suggested Ishiba needs bold political reform measures to regain public trust.

Ishiba pledged to revitalize the rural economy, address Japan’s falling birth rate and bolster defense. But his Cabinet has old faces, only two women and was seen as alienating members of the scandal-tainted faction led by late premier Shinzo Abe. Ishiba quickly retreated from earlier support for a dual surname option for married couples and legalizing same-sex marriage, an apparent compromise to the party’s influential ultra-conservatives.

His popularity fell because of “the gap in what the public expected him to be as prime minister versus the reality of what he brought as prime minister,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a political analyst at The Asia Group.

The LDP is also being tested Sunday for its ability to break from the legacy of Abe, whose policies focused on security, trade and industry but largely ignored equality and diversity, and its nearly eight-year long rule led to the corruption, experts say.

There could be regrouping attempts among opposition parties to decide whether to cooperate among themselves or join the ruling coalition, political watchers say.

Potential new partners for the LDP include the Democratic Party of the People, a breakaway group from the CPDJ, which calls for lower taxes, and a conservative Japan Innovation Party, though both are currently denying a possible coalition with the LDP.

The LDP, whose dissolution of most factions that used to help bring together support for pushing through on elections and on policy, is less cohesive and could enter the era of short-lived prime ministers. Ishiba is expected to last at least until the ruling bloc approves key budget plans at the end of December.

AP video journalist Mayuko Ono contributed to this report.

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba, right, Chairperson of LDP Election Strategy Committee Shinjiro Koizumi, left, pose with a pin above the name of a candidate who won the lower house election, the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba places a pin on the name of a candidate who won the lower house election, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the media regarding the lower house election, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba, fourth from left, and the party's other senior members pose for a photo in front of the LDP candidates’ names of the lower house election seen on the board, at the party's headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba poses with a pin above the name of a candidate who won the lower house election, the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of Japan's opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, speaks to the media about the lower house election at the party's headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Kyodo News via AP)

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of Japan's opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, speaks to the media regarding the early result of the lower house election at the party's headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Kyodo News via AP)

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of Japan's opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, speaks to the media regarding the lower house election at the party's headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba poses with a pin above the name of a candidate who won the lower house election, the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the media regarding the early result of lower house election, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba speaks to the media regarding the early result of lower house election, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024 in Tokyo, (Takashi Aoyama/Pool Photo via AP)

A woman walks towards voting booths at a polling station for Japan's lower house election in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Election staff members help voters at a polling station for Japan's lower house election in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Japan's Prime Minister and head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party Shigeru Ishiba waves during a campaign for a parliamentary election in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Voters prepare to cast their ballots at a polling station for Japan's lower house election in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A voter prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station for Japan's lower house election in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Leader of opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Yoshihiko Noda speaks during a campaigning for a parliamentary election in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minister and head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a campaigning for a parliamentary election in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (Kyodo News via AP)

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station for Japan's lower house election in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A woman looks at a billboard with candidates campaign posters for Japan's lower house election installed at a polling station in Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)