Dozens of homes were buried in the Pantukan township on the southern island of Mindanao after the area was saturated by days of rain.
Arthur Uy, the governor of Compostela Valley province, told the Associated Press that a 50-member police and military rescue team had been sent to the remote area on Tuesday to help search for at least six people missing a day after the landslides hit.
He also said one mudslide slammed into about 30 shanty homes, followed by another that swept away a house.
About 19 people, most of them miners working in the area, were treated for injuries.
Uy said the landslide-prone region was saturated after days of rain and residents had ignored warnings to leave.
Evacuation warning
"We have been asking them to leave, and we are planning to cordon the area," he said.
"We are happy to have this gold mining area here. But the dark side are the deaths that occur in these natural calamities."
Uy said 17 of 30 miners pulled out from the rubble on Monday were treated in hospitals.
Last month, the local government ordered the suspension of small-scale mining operations in the area due to bad weather conditions, but some miners ignored the order and continued working.
Landslides and floods are common in the Philippines during the monsoon months between May and October, particularly near mining areas.
PHOTO CAPTION
Map showing the location of Pantukan on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
Al-Jazeera