From the wall of GCF Chairman and Albay Gov. Joey Sarte Salceda: GOVERNOr SALCEDA’S MESSAGE FOR CAGSAWA DOS SIGLOS This is one of those rare days in our lives when we could greet each other a good morning and a good day no matter what the weather is. . Two hundred years ago nature’s aberration brought unimaginable destruction of property and lives in this place. After two hundred years, to the day, we are still here, standing and happy and prosperous. We are standing here with our indomitable spirit urging us to go on and live life to the fullest. We are standing here with our unquenchable hope for better days. . SO GOOD MORNING TO EVERYONE! MARHAY NA ALDAW PO SATUYA GABOS!!! IT IS A VERY GOOD DAY TO STAND TALL, TO REMEMBER, AND TO CELEBRATE LIFE! . May it be clearly understood that if we celebrate today, we are not mocking the God in Whose infinite wisdom have allowed nature to devastate this place and its surroundings. Neither are we being irreverent to the memory of the people, our ancestors, and our dearly beloved who suffered and perished here. . We celebrate today because we survived. And I am confident that those who passed away are happy we survived. We have passed the test of nature and of time. To paraphrase the words of the song made popular—once again—by a Filipina in Israel: “We faced it all and we stood tall…the record shows we took the blows and did it our way!” . Yes, we took the blows. Given the situations, the circumstances, the technology and the culture of those times—I would say that there was nothing that the people here could have done to prevent, much less mitigate, the disaster. . It was true that the rumblings and tremors were felt earlier, in January 31, 1814. Pero noon po ay wala pang Phivolcs, wala pang DRRMC, wala pang APSEMO. Wala pa pong mass communication, wala pang internet, wala pang Facebook. Wala pang makakapagbigay warning sa mga tao na tumakbo na kayo! Puputok ang Mayon! Patay tayo dito! . (At hindi pa po si Joey Salceda ang gobernador dito—193 years pa bago mahalal si Joey Salceda.) . The morning of February 1, 1814 was a pleasant one, according to the eyewitness account of the Franciscan priest, Fray Francisco Aragoneses. Heto pa ang sabi niya: “I noticed that the hills closest to the volcano were covered by a fog which I thought to be smoke coming out of a house which might had been burned that night.” . At ito na ang kasunod na sinabi: “At eight o´clock of that frightful morning, at which hour the volcano began suddenly to throw a thick column of stones, sand and ashes which very quickly went up the atmosphere, at the site of which we were very surprised, filled with the greatest dread, all the more when we noticed that it covered very quickly the fold of the volcano.” . Hindi ko po sinasabi na walang warning ng pagputok ang bulkan. Ang sinasabi ko: kung may warning man—katulad ng tremors, earthquake, o minor smoke emissions, ang mga warning na iyan ay hindi pa kayang basahin ng mga tao. Akala ng pobreng pari, ang makapal na usok ay tira ng nasunog na bahay. Hindi nila alam na pahiwatig na pala iyon ng pagputok. . Akala nila kaya lumilindol ay dahil gumagalaw si Bernardo Carpio. Kaya nayayanig ang lupa ay dahil may hinahabol si Tambaluslos. The people’s mind were so mired in superstitions that they misread the warnings of nature. . In fact, even when the stones and ashes were raining on them, the poor priest—a scholar who was educated in Europe—still fail to read nature’s wrath, reading it as “divine justice” caused by the “immoral customs” of the people in this place. . Heto po ang iniisip ng frayle habang tumatakas siya: “Who among us thought of not to die at the sight of so clear signs of divine justice? As for me, in those bitter moments, I had in mind the disastrous death of the cities in the Pentapolis and I was certainly persuaded that the unfortunate towns of Camarines would undergo the same unhappy lot. It is time that those are horrible remembrances, but they were caused by the immoral customs that were noticed in those towns.” Ayan po, kasalanan pa ng mga tao ang pagputok ng Mayon. . The people of this place were caught totally unaware of the dangers around them. And though there were no exact count of casualties, it was estimated that thousands died here. Their livestock and the produce of their land were totally wiped out. The devastations spread from the edge of the sea to the towns of, Cagsawa, Budiao, Albay, Camalig and Guinobatan. . It was a bitter lesson to be learned from ignorance and lack of technology. . But the depth of wisdom learned was equivalent to the bitterness of the lesson. Oh yes, and I am mighty proud to say this of our people: Nagbangon po sinda, pinahid su luha, binulong su mga lugad, dangan naging mas madunong, mas makusog kesa dati! (They stood up, they wiped their tears, they healed their wounds and they became wiser and stronger than before!) They took the blows, they faced it all and they stood tall. . In July 6, 1814, five months after the disaster, the people of Cagsawa met in Ligao and planned where they would relocate. Although they did not call it so, what they organized in Ligao was the very first DRRMC (Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Committee) known to man. They decided to move to the higher plains of Daraga and prospered there. The rest is history. . Ini po an pinaka-importanteng pamana satuya kan mga inapo ta sa Cagsawa: Today, we are so adept at facing and surviving the wrath of nature because we inherited it from our ancestors here: the mind-set and the muscle memory on how to reduce the risk and to manage disasters. . Ini man po an dahilan kun nata napaka-importante satuya an Cagsawa. This Cagsawa Ruins Park is a monument to the resiliency and the indomitable spirit of our ancestors. It reminds us—and the whole world—how strong we are, not only in the flesh but in spirit. . Ini man po an dahilan kun nata kaipuhan i-nominate an Cagsawa tanganing mapabilang sa UNESCO World Heritage List. Sa paagi kan Albay Historico-Cultural Committee na pinanginginotan ni Abdon M. Balde Jr., nakikipag-coordinate na po tayo sa UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, thru Secretary-General Dr. Virginia A. Miralao (na dati kong titser sa Ateneo) so that the whole world may know and realize that here, on this hollowed ground, tenacious people knew how to rise from disaster and prosper. We want the world to know that disasters may come and go, but our race will live on, because we know how to adapt to Mother Nature. . We are not only physically strong, we are also morally upright. The moral fibre that runs through every Albayano is as strong as our abaka hemp that fought the calamitous winds, and held the Spanish galleons for 250 years, and binds us all together to this day! . Ini man po an dahilan kun nata may Cagsawa Festival kita ngonian. With due respect to our ancestors here, we are exceedingly glad that we survived and prospered. For those who perished here 200 years ago—wherever you may be now: We want you to know that we survived and we prospered. Your blood consecrated this hollowed land, have fertilized our spirit, and have taught us how to face and survived disasters. . We want you to know that you did not die in vain. . Let us all celebrate the indomitable spirits of our ancestors here and of our unquenchable hope for better lives! . MARHAY NA ALDAW PO SATUYA GABOS!
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:07:21 +0000
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