NEWSFLASH

LEYTE DOOMSDAY CULT MOVES OUT OF TUNNELS

Leyte, March 6, 2000 - Leyte Cultists who had predicted that the world would end last New Year’s Eve have listened to scientists’ warnings and are abandoning the tunnels they had intended to use to wait out their expected doomsday.

A team of experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) finally convinced the group, led by octogenarian Seferino Quinte, to leave the 51 tunnels they had carved out.

Quinte assured the government experts and local authorities that his family and followers would return to their real homes by July. 50 families still remain at the site, down from 160 families at the height of the cult’s popularity last year.

The bult leader had predicted that a "ring of fire" would occur with the dawning of the new millennium.

Government engineer Raul Corias advised the group that the tunnels have weakened due to climatic conditions in the past two years.

Phivolcs and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau investigations found the tunnels to be situated on the western portion of the Philippine Fault which extends from Northern Luzon to Eastern Mindanao, passing through the Biliran Strait, between Biliran Island and the Calubian Peninsula.

The fault line traverses the island of Leyte, from Leyte town in the north to the towns of Sogod and St. Bernard in the south. Volcanologists said the Philippine Fault is an active fault that moves about two to three centimeters every year.

The government study also noted "intense soil creeping" or the slow downslope movement of soil in Quinte's hilly land, as well as multiple fault lines inside the tunnels. Continuous heavy rains may also trigger landslides.

Mayor James Ysidoro said they would monitor the cultists' movements. Corias said they would return to the site in June for "follow-up inspection.”