OpenPinas: Weekly Review

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck at 7:37 a.m. on June 8 off the coast of Sarangani, about 32 km southwest of Maasim at a depth of 33 km. PHIVOLCS initially reported M7.0 before upgrading the event; the USGS and EMSC also placed it at 7.8. The tremor was generated by movement along the Cotabato Trench—the same structure behind the devastating August 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake and tsunami. Instrumental intensity reached VIII in Malapatan, Sarangani; observed intensity hit VII (destructive) in General Santos City, with strong shaking reported from Davao City through Zamboanga and as far as parts of Leyte. PHIVOLCS said damage and aftershocks were expected; shaking reportedly lasted about 30 seconds. It was the strongest quake to hit the Philippines since the 1990 Luzon event and among the most destructive in half a century.

PHIVOLCS issued a tsunami warning within minutes of the main shock, telling residents of Sarangani, Davao Occidental, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Sultan Kudarat, and South Cotabato to evacuate coastal areas immediately and move inland or to higher ground. The agency warned first waves could arrive between 7:37 and 9:37 a.m. and might continue for hours, with heights potentially exceeding one meter above normal tide. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center flagged possible waves across the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan, and Papua New Guinea. Measured tsunami heights reached about 1.4 meters in the Philippines; six stilt shanties were damaged in one coastal village while broader tsunami destruction was limited. The Coast Guard suspended watercraft operations in Davao Occidental during the advisory. Warnings were later lifted, but fear of aftershock-driven waves kept thousands in shelters overnight.

General Santos City—the country’s tuna capital with more than 700,000 residents—took some of the worst structural damage. Police and AFP video showed commercial buildings and a campus structure collapsing; local media documented a shopping center housing a Jollibee reduced to rubble. At least 13 people died in GenSan from collapsed buildings and falling debris, authorities said. CAAP suspended General Santos Airport operations from roughly 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. while assessing navigation equipment; the airport remained closed into June 9, canceling 63 domestic flights except humanitarian missions. Widespread power outages hit Sarangani province including GenSan through mid-morning. In Davao del Sur, students at Sta. Cruz National High School sustained minor injuries during panic after the quake struck during flag-raising; an abandoned building at Matanao National High School collapsed in a restricted zone with no injuries reported.

By June 9 the NDRRMC confirmed 37 deaths and 479 injured, while disaster officials told reporters the toll could climb past 41 as rescuers finished searching collapsed buildings. The PNP separately monitored 22,900+ evacuees—higher than earlier OCD displacement counts. Sarangani recorded at least 18 deaths, many from a landslide in Glan that buried mountainside homes; at least 13 died in General Santos from collapsed structures and falling debris, with additional fatalities in South Cotabato, Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island. Initial assessments listed about 2,500 houses and 117 government buildings damaged. Four people remained on official missing lists, though OCD said several heavily damaged buildings still needed full inspection. Aftershocks and cracked-wall warnings kept many families in shelters rather than returning home.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. directed DSWD, DPWH, and DOH crisis teams while suspending classes across affected Mindanao. By June 9 DepEd reported 267 public schools damaged across 14 provinces in Soccsksargen, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, and Caraga—roughly 3.2 million students and 128,000 staff in the quake zone. Classroom damage broke down to 199 destroyed, 296 major, and 896 minor (about 1,391 total). DepEd initially closed 8,208 schools on June 8; only 818 had resumed in-person classes by June 9, with reopening staggered pending engineer clearances. Education Secretary Sonny Angara released ₱235.1 million for 130 Learning Continuity Spaces with emergency power and Starlink connectivity, plus ₱43.9 million for minor repairs and ₱7.7 million for cleanup. DepEd may tap its ₱3-billion Quick Response Fund for rebuilding. The U.S., Japan, France, and New Zealand offered assistance.

Marcos’s June 8 statements framed a whole-of-government response while keeping him in Manila’s command loop—critical for an administration still managing impeachment politics and WPS flare-ups the same week Brawner confirmed the Bajo de Masinloc structure.

Davao and Soccsksargen are Duterte political heartland. Disaster response performance—and any perceived delay in GenSan or Sarangani—will be measured against the clan’s legacy of Mindanao-centric governance as Sara’s impeachment trial nears.