Angeles City, Pampanga — Thirty-two years after Mt. Pinatubo’s cataclysmic eruption in 1991, the Center for Kapampangan Studies (CKS) has unveiled to the public the first-ever Pinatubo memorial marker erected at the Holy Angel University (HAU) here, Thursday.
The marker ends with a couplet: “May we always remember what we suffered. May we always celebrate that we triumphed.”
What stands as the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century caused 847 deaths and left hundreds of thousands Filipinos homeless.
“Let’s keep telling and re-telling our Pinatubo experiences to our children, because, as the wise man once said, “those who do not learn the lesson of history will be condemned to repeat it.” There are no dead volcanoes, only sleeping volcanoes. Let’s not be caught unprepared again next time Pinatubo awakens,” quipped HAU Vice President for Student Services & Affairs and CKS Director Robby Tantingco.
Present at the unveiling and wreath-laying are Angeles City Vice Mayor Vicky Vega, Executive Assistant V Rafael Lazatin Angeles, Pampanga Tourism Officer Randy del Rosario and Pampang barangay chairman Luis de Luna, who donated to HAU a 3000-year old tree trunk buried along the Abacan river during one of Pinatubo’s prehistoric eruptions.
Former Mabalacat tourism officer and pioneer in Pinatubo explorations Guy Indra Hilbero, poet-laureate Francisco Guinto, who performed his winning entry in a CKS-sponsored Pinatubo poetry competition which gave him the laurel crown, poet laureate Sergio Calayag and young poet Alvin Ignacio a.k.a. Bertung Isponga are also present at the event.
The university is represented by Vice President for Organization Development Edna Santos, Vice President Dr. Al Biag and Registrar Dr. Jesus Panlilio. CKS administrator Myra Lopez hosted the program. Chaplain Fr. Mark Anthony Torrcarion led the program’s opening prayer. HAU’s Chorale, Rondalla and String Ensemble also performed.
The public is invited to visit HAU’s Pinatubo Museum, the only museum in the Philippines dedicated to the history of a volcano. This houses
the mural timeline of Mt. Pinatubo, ‘LUMUD’ (a mural sculpture by Kapampangan artist Arnel Garcia) and other Pinatubo memorabilia. Download the Augmented Reality app on Google Play Store before visiting the museum: https://tinyurl.com/6ftb6evp
The 2011 National Book Awardee (science category) “Pinatubo: The Volcano in our Backyard” by Tangtingco can be also ordered at the CKS office or via Shopee.