Kapampangans recall Pinatubo eruption

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — A special tribute to the country’s leaders, among them President Arroyo, former President Fidel V. Ramos and Speaker Jose de Venecia, will highlight a simple thanksgiving here tomorrow as Kapampangans commemorate the 15th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

The commemorative event will be led by major players in the historic multisectoral campaign launched by the government and the private sector to save this city and the rest of Pampanga from the destructive flow of lahar spewed by the volcano in June 1991.

Sen. Lito Lapid, the late Pampanga Gov. Bren Guiao and the late Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Raymundo Punongbayan and countless others, especially the unsung heroes in the struggle for survival against the lahar devastation, will also be included in the tribute that will underscore Kapampangan unity and courage against adversity.

Prominent Kapampangan businessman and civic leader Levy Laus, one of the leading lights in the massive effort to protect this city and nearby towns from lahar devastation, said the commemorative celebration is a fitting tribute to everyone who had contributed to the province’s overcoming the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

"We want to remember that unprecedented catastrophe and celebrate at the same time the triumph of the Kapampangan spirit in the midst of such a life-challenging adversity," said Laus, head of the then Save San Fernando Movement, which was at the forefront of the collective effort to stop the destructive lahar.

Laus, currently the deputy secretary-general of the Advocacy Commission for Charter Change, said the celebration will start with a thanksgiving Mass at 8 a.m. at the local radio station dwRW 95.1, which served as the command and coordination center at the height of the lahar devastation that buried several communities, particularly those in the historic town of Bacolor.

Pampanga leaders led by Gov. Mark Lapid and City Mayor Oscar Rodriguez will attend the celebration, Laus said.

After the Mass, a special radio program will be devoted to "recalling those fateful days when the lives and future of most Kapampangans hung in the balance with nothing to hold on to but our faith in ourselves and our leaders and God," Laus said.

He said a special book on the Mt. Pinatubo crisis will also be launched during the commemoration.