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[av_heading heading=’Our memories of Mayon’s eruption’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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January 23, 2018
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WE PERSONALLY witnessed an eruption of Mayon Volcano in Albay province way back in the ‘60s in Bicol. We were residing in Naga City at that time while working with a commercial bank.
It was in 1968 when Mayon Volcano had an eruption that produced also scary headlines in newspapers and radio at that time.
The present eruption of Mayon is the fourth in our memory. The first one was in 1968 which we witnessed personally while in Naga City.
It is interesting to note that Mayon’s three eruptions in 1968, 1984 and in 2000 were at intervals of 16 years each, while the present one this January 2018 happened again after 18 years.
The world-famous Mayon, with its near-perfect cone, always attracts nationwide attention when it erupts even if it causes panic and evacuation of thousands of residents from the danger zone fixed at a radius of six kilometers from the epicenter.
In the present eruption, 13,000 residents who left their homes even if outside the danger zone are now being asked to return. But there are 25,000 others who had to remain in evacuation centers in public school buildings at the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao, and in the towns of Camalig, Guinobatan, Daraga, Sto. Domingo, and Malilipot located around the active volcano.
In 1968 we joined a weekend caravan of cars, vans and pick-up trucks at sundown from Naga City and stopped in the early evening when we reached a hilly area at Daraga, Albay. We witnessed the beautiful multi-colored glow of lava flowing down the volcano’s peak as it erupts. No one seemed to mind the scary headlines on Mayon’s eruption in the national papers.
After enjoying a super show of the volcano, we proceeded to Legazpi City and enjoyed a late dinner with fun at one of the city’s nightspots. We drove back home to Naga City in the early morning of the following day.
There was one well-known town in Albay province called Polangui. It is along the highway to Legazpi City where you can also enjoy a good dinner and dance for the evening because of their dancing girls. Many nightclub hostesses in Bicol claim they are from Polangui.
Polangui girls are good dancing partners and hosts, but “no extra service”, if you know what we mean. Parents or lolas chaperon their girls working in the nightclub and stay or fetch them for home when they finish for the night.
On the other hand, the young men from Polangui are usually attracted to the religious life and pursue the priesthood. Many of the families have their boys study at the regional seminary in Naga City. We met two priests assigned here once at the former Vincentian De Paul College in Jaro who were both from Polangui, Albay, and they confirmed this preferred vocation for young boys in their hometown.
Going back to Mayon, we still clearly remember up to now our experience of a great sky show that evening in 1968 when we witnessed its eruption with the flaming lava in multi-colors flowing from its crater on the mountain side or bursting to the evening sky.
It is happening again now. Mayon is attracting domestic and foreign tourists who come unafraid to witness the beautiful and great phenomenon in Albay province as the volcano erupts.
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Historical quote of the week: “The first place to put up a Christian church in the Philippines was Jalaud, Dumangas, Iloilo, in what was known as the Barangay of Ermita in 1566.” (For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
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