PHILIPPINES Landslides kill at least 127; president asks U.S. to help

Rescuers were also looking for a ferry that radioed it was sinking at sea.
SAN FRANCISO, Philippines (AP) -- Rescuers counted at least 127 dead and searched for dozens more missing Monday from devastating weekend mudslides in the eastern and southern Philippines, as sporadic rains and strong sea waves hampered recovery efforts.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked the United States to send Chinook helicopters to help in rescue operations, as several hard-hit villages have not yet been reached.
Authorities blamed illegal logging for the disaster, which was triggered by six days of pounding rains in provinces near the Pacific Ocean late Friday to early Saturday.
Leyte province's Gov. Rosette Lerias said the rainfall saturated the ground so much that it "exploded," sending tons of mud and debris down hillsides and onto homes as villagers slept.
Seeking ferry
In a separate disaster, rescuers searched for a ferry not heard of since it radioed that it was sinking at sea with 75 people aboard Sunday southwest of Manila.
Of those killed in the weekend landslides, at least 109 were in the central province of Southern Leyte, Vice Governor Eva Tomol told The Associated Press. Casualty figures were expected to rise.
The dead included 70 people in San Francisco's village of Punta, where 53 were still missing; 22 people in Liloan; three in the provincial capital of Maasin, and the rest in Pinut-an in San Ricardo, south of Liloan.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council also reported four people drowned in floodwaters and 13 were killed in landslides in the northeastern part of the main southern island of Mindanao, close to Leyte, over the weekend. Close to 20,000 people were evacuated.
Television footage showed bodies of a family of five -- mother, father and their children aged 5, 12 and 14 -- lying in the mud and rain of their collapsed house in Liloan.
"We found families huddled together, other families were scattered," a rescuer told ABS-CBN TV.
Areas most affected
Arroyo said most affected areas were near over-logged hills and mountains.
Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun said that some forests had been replaced by coconut plantations in the 1920s and 1930s, noting that coconut trees do not hold the soil as well as deep-rooted trees.
The weather bureau said Friday's rainfall was 21.89 inches -- more than the average for the whole month of December.
Bad weather, blocked roads and downed power lines hampered rescuers.
Arroyo spoke by phone with U.S. Ambassador Richard Ricciardone, conveying the government's request for Chinooks, the American military's all-weather troop and cargo helicopters. It wasn't clear when the choppers would arrive, but Arroyo today thanked the U.S. government "for lending a hand in the delivery of assistance and the search for the missing."
U.S. officials contacted in Okinawa, Japan -- where the helicopters would likely be sent from -- said they had heard of no plans to send helicopters.