CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Each of the 505 barangays in Pampanga will wake up to a motorcade merriment on June 15 to mark the 25th anniversary of the historic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo that devastated this province in 1991.
Gov. Lilia Pineda stressed in a press conference here yesterday the importance of commemorating Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption to show the unity and resilience of Kapampangans during “a most trying adversity in their history,”
Pres. Aquino had granted Pineda’s request to declare June 15 a non-working holiday in the entire Pampanga to enable local folk to mark the anniversary of the eruption which led to continuing volcanic threat mainly in the form of lahar flows in the succeeding years.
Pineda said she has issued a directive to all barangay heads in Pampanga’s 505 barangays to hold motorcades in their areas starting 7 a.m. for the anniversary.
Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) chairman Levy Laus, who chairs the Mt. Pinatubo Executive Committee for the celebrations, said the main anniversary events would be centered in Bacolor town which totally vanished under tons of lahar debris, but has again rebuilt on top of volcanic materials.
“It is significant that we hold the main ceremonies in Bacolor because it was the most devastated town in Pampanga,” Laus said.
Laus is proposing that Pinatubo Day be commemorated as a non-working day once every five years. He said a yearly non-working holiday would not likely be welcome to business folk.
He said that the program in Bacolor would start with a commemorative walk from the Cabetican church to the half-buried San Guillermo parish church where a Mass will be offered with retired San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto as main celebrant.
Pineda and Laus also revealed plans to build an impressive monument to mark Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, although details on this are still being finalized. They said the monument would be finished in time for June 15 Pinatubo commemoration next year.
They said the commemoration would hand over to future Kapampangan generations the heroism, courage, resilience of Kapampangans in rebuilding from a “historic devastation.”
