Understanding Albay. Mayon, Beauty & the Beasts

Revised 15 August at 2023 hours Manila time


LEGAZPI CITY - The Albayanons know of the blessings of beauty and the burdens of beasts, many beasts. They have learned to live with all of them, in serenity, urgency and emergency. They prepare to look at beauty every day; they also prepare to fight, because they prefer to win and they know that the beasts pound on them also when they least expect.

Mayon Volcano is the most perfect cone in the world of mountains. A natural beauty. On 13 October 2008, it was included in the New 7 Wonders of Nature Top 10 list. It is so lovely a sight that you will want to wait until she shows her face again behind the clouds where she hides. She is always hiding that face. Once in a while, the face of a beast shows, and it emerges from the bowels of this beauty angry, very angry. On 01 February 1814, dark ash from Mayon buried the town of Cagsawa in Albay and burned to death 2,200 people, burying them forever (Wikipedia). Beauty and the Beast. Beasts are no respecters of persons, properties, or places. To triumph over their devilry, you must learn to respect them first.

Maria Venus Raj, the Philippines' candidate to the Miss Universe contest this year, our Bb Pilipinas-Universe, was born in Doha, Qatar; raised in Bato, Camarines Sur, Southern Luzon; nonetheless, she studied in college and finished her Bachelor of Communication Arts major in Journalism at the Bicol University, which is located in Legazpi City in Albay, so this province can claim her as its own. In fact, she is Albay´s Youth Ambassador for Climate Change. Fate has been both beauty and beast to her (see my "Aphrodite Rising," American Chronicle). She was born an illegitimate child of an Indian national; in the Philippines, if you are born out of wedlock, you are mercilessly the butt of cruel jokes and the object of ridicule of your neighbors. This year, on 06 March, she won as Binibining Pilipinas-Universe; on 29 March, or 23 days later, the pageant organizer Binibining Pilipinas stripped her of her crown, alleging "inconsistencies" between her birth documents and her own declarations. First, they accepted her, flattered her with a crown, and then they dishonored her and kicked her out of her throne. A former Miss Universe of her own country, Gloria Diaz, advised her to let go, because the pageant owners always had the last word, she said. Venus looked inside herself and found beauty, so she fought back. With her guts and the friends she got, with emails and online petition, Facebook and blogs supporting her cause, 41 days later the crown was returned to whom it was concerned: Miss Maria Venus Raj. In the Philippines, we have the saying, "Gumawa ka ng multo, ikaw ang natakot." You created the ghost, you scared yourself. Some beasts are our own making. If we make them, we can unmake them - if not, others will.

Miriam Quiambao, Ms Universe 1st Runner-Up in 1999, is from Albay, her father from Tabaco/Bacacay, her mother from Oas. The father of Miss International 2005 Precious Lara Quigaman is from Ligao City. Last year´s Binibining Pilipinas-International Melody Gersbach is from Daraga. Reigning Mutya ng Pilipinas-International Jane Bañares is from Legazpi City. Jane won despite her dark looks compared to the beautiful mestizas she competed against (Joyce Burton Titular, adventuresofabeautyqueen.com). She´s smart. Question: If ever you won the Mutya ng Pilipinas 2009 crown, would you change anything about yourself so you could better represent the Philippines in the international pageant? Answer: NO because it is my imperfections that make me unique. Despite inadequacies, the Albayanons have learned to bring out the beauty in them.

Heavy rains can bring in floods and lahar flows if you are in Legazpi City where actively volcanic Mayon lies in beauty. 13 October 2009, Tuesday night, heavy rains visited on Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate and Sorsogon (Rhaydz Barcia, manilatimes.net). 14 October, Wednesday morning, lahar suddenly cascaded down the slope of Mayon Volcano, the flow making a major road leading to Legazpi City impassable, immediately causing a traffic flow jam. The lahar flow also caused panic among residents of Buyuan and Padang in this city. Relying on the beauty of prescience, partnership, and persistence, knowing today the wiles and whims of Mayon, not to mention those of Mother Nature, Albay Governor Joey Salceda ordered the immediate evacuation of those villagers and others living in the lowlands across the province. In response to Salceda's order, all town and city disaster officers in Albay, as well as Naval Forces Southern Luzon, the Philippine Navy and Philippine Army quickly dispatched trucks to carry out evacuees from communities threatened by flash floods, or mudflows, or both. Salceda also suspended classes in the elementary and secondary levels, as well as a provincial Boy Scouts jamboree being held in the town of Manito. He also instructed the town´s and the province´s health offices to stand by for any medical emergency. As of noon of Wednesday, about 1,000 individuals or 180 families had been evacuated from the flood-prone towns of Daraga, Camalig and Guinobatan by Army and Navy troops. In Albay, when the beasts come, rescue cannot be far behind.

Unseasonal heavy rains are the portents of more such things to come. Climate change is here, and the whole of Albay knows and accepts that. That´s history. As of Thursday at 2300 hours, 21 February 2008, in Albay province alone, almost 10,000 families or more than 50,000 people had been evacuated, the Governor reported on Friday morning, 22 February (Ephraim Aguilar, inquirer.net). Relying on the beauty of disaster preparedness, Thursday afternoon, Salceda had ordered preemptive evacuation based on meteorological grounds: incessant rains in the past 8 days registered a 45.72-mm rainfall at 1300 hours, signaling emergency evacuation to keep residents bodily away from possible lahar flows triggered by rainwater collecting on the crater of active Mayon Volcano. Salceda described it as a "guerrilla type of disaster" where small incidents suddenly erupt without warning even when there are no major disturbances (storms or typhoons) except incessant rains. Disaster officials reported a total of 16 landslides in Albay: in Tiwi, Malilipot, Santo Domingo, Manito, Daraga, Bacacay, Ligao, Pioduran, Legazpi and Tabaco. 4 major roads, the Ligao-Pioduran, Ligao-Pantao, Legazpi-Tabaco, and Ligao-Tabaco became impassable. Salceda ordered the Department of Public Works and Highways to clear them Friday morning. He suspended classes at all levels and advised people in isolated areas to stay put while waiting for rescuers. An aerial reconnaissance was set by the Albay Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council to survey flooded areas and landslides. 9 Army trucks and 2 rubber boats were deployed for rescue or evacuation from Thursday night to Friday morning in Legazpi City and in the towns of Libon, Daraga and Camalig. Villagers in Busay, Daraga called for rescue as floodwaters kept rising to the rooftops of their homes. The sun was up in Legazpi City Thursday morning but Salceda issued orders not to allow residents in landslide-prone sites to leave the evacuation centers. He explained that the floodwaters cannot subside immediately, and that there were still threats of lahar flows and more flooding. The Governor noted that the rainfall registered within the past 24 hours had reached 297 mm, the highest without a typhoon. Salceda also said the provincial government was strictly monitoring prices to guard against overpricing of commodities. Not only that, he wanted to make sure that farm produce and medicines were available at a moment´s notice. Much of Legazpi City´s central business district remained submerged in floodwaters and shops were closed Friday. With climate change, today when it rains, it pours misery.

Japan responds to the plight of the Albayanons by granting PhP 480 million to Albay for the construction of 6 multi-storey permanent evacuation centers, that is, in the towns of Manito, Santo Domingo, Oas, Libon and Polangui, and in Legazpi City (Mar Arguelles, inquirer.net). On Thursday, 08 August 2010, Albay Governor Joey Salceda and JICA Representative Nagaishi Masfumi signed the Memorandum of Agreement at the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council office in Legazpi City for the disaster risk reduction project. (Relocation is part of risk reduction. My photograph is taken from a relocation site in Legazpi City; I have titled it "Children of the Pump.") JICA must know that adaptation is the greater part of valor; mitigation or risk reduction is the greater part of discretion. The MoA does not require Philippine counterpart funding. JICA, that was a beauty!

Beauty can last 100 years. One of the beauties of Albay is abaca. This is the sturdiest natural fiber in the world, the beauteous stuff lasting up to 100 years (Wikipedia). Our country supplies 84% of the world´s abaca, making the Philippines the international abaca capital, and Albay the national center of the trade. Botanists prefer to call it Musa textilis. Muse of textiles as it were. In the recent Pinukpok Fashion Show, local designer Klang Klang created more than 200 evening gowns and barongs for local officials, beauty pageant contestants and the dance troupe "to bring out the natural elegance of Albay´s pride" (George Bp Supetran, philstar.com). Pinukpok - that which has been pounded on - brings out the best in the old species yet.

After all is said and done, the Albayanons are not only survivors;
they are winners because they bring out the beauty within.