HAU vice president for external affairs Robbie Tantingco said the museum will feature a mural timeline of the history of Mt. Pinatubo, a mural sculpture by Kapampangan artist Arnel Garcia, as well as various exhibits executed by researcher-artist Joel Mallari.
The inauguration of the museum will be held on the eve of the 25th Pinatubo eruption anniversary on June 14.
The museum is located at HAU’s Center for Kapampangan Studies, said Tantingco who also heads the center.
“The museum will be open to the public. It museum is our memorial to the 1991 event that profoundly altered the personal and collective destinies of Kapampangans,” Tantingco stressed.
“What Kapampangans experienced has no parallel in world history, except maybe the ten plagues of Egypt in the Old Testament,” Tantingco said, adding that “we had an eruption, earthquakes, lahars, typhoon, rain of sand, ash and rocks, day turning into night– all at the same time.”
He noted that “the calamity went on for the next five years.”
Tantingco also said the opening of the museum will coincide with the launching of the book “Our Common Fault: Stories of Loss and Survival in the July 16, 1990 Earthquake,” authored by Lia T. Pangilinan and published by the Center for Kapampangan Studies.
“Last year was the 25th anniversary of the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that left a swath of destruction from Central Luzon all the way up to Northern Luzon,” Tantingco said. “The book is our memorial to all those who suffered or died in that earthquake.”
The earthquake led to a series of geological events that caused Pinatubo’s eruption one year later, Tantingco also noted.
Pres. Aquino has issued Proclamation 1259 declaring June 15 a special non-working holiday in Pampanga in commemoration of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. signed the proclamation on behalf of the President on May 4.
“To render appropriate tribute to those who perished as well as to those who survived and helped in the relocation, rehabilitation and recovery of Pinatubo-affected families, the province of Pampanga will hold commemorative programs,” the proclamation stated.
“It is but fitting and proper that the people of Pampanga…be given full opportunity to celebrate and participate in the occasion with appropriate ceremonies,” it added.
The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on June 15, 1991 caused massive destruction not only in Pampanga but also in Zambales, Bataan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
