Mayon folk getting ready to go home

13 September 2006

LEGAZPI CITY—AFTER OVER A month of taking shelter in an evacuation center at the San Roque Elementary School, Veronica Mirandilla, 49, a weaver and farmer from Barangay Mabinit, is set to return to her farm on Saturday since the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) had already lowered Mt. Mayon’s alert status to level three late Monday afternoon.

More than 30,000 displaced villagers, who had to rely on government relief assistance and endure sleeping in crowded shelters, could not contain their excitement when told of the news.

Speaking in the local dialect, Mirandilla said “The first thing I will do when my family goes back home is to clean our house which we have not seen for a long time. I will plant new crops again since the ash fall destroyed our “petchay” and “pipino” which we were unable to harvest.”

Aside from planting vegetables and weaving, Mirandilla also raises livestock just like most of the villagers in Mabinit, which is 8.25 kilometers away from the 2-462-meter volcano.

Consolacion Viñas, 49, of the same village, also said she was unable to harvest anything because of the eruption.

“Our plants were scorched which left us empty-handed but despite the loss we would be buying seeds so we could start anew when we return home,” she said.

There were around 4,256 farmers planting at Mt. Mayon’s fertile footlands, said the Provincial Agricultural Services. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon