By Rey M. Nasol and Ephraim Aguilar
Inquirer Southern Luzon and Alcuin Papa in Manila
LEGAZPI CITY—ALBAY OFFIcials yesterday warned villagers that no one would come to help them if they refused to evacuate and Mayon Volcano erupted violently, but the holdouts said they preferred to spend Christmas in their homes than in government centers.
Gov. Joey Salceda issued the warning as troops launched a hunt for the hard-headed ones amid threats of a major eruption by the most active Philippine volcano.
“If you are there, you die there. There is no way of rescuing people (if) rescuers would also be killed,” Salceda said in a press briefing.
In a yet another frightening display of its power, Mayon boomed 124 times over a 24-hour period, while belching out ash columns towering 2 kilometers over its summit, higher than its previous ejections.
But hundreds of villagers still ignored appeals for them to evacuate.
“After field validation, 179 more families are still within the danger zones. This excludes those who have returned without our knowledge,” said Salceda, chair of the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC).
Officials recalled that 77 farmers and thousands of animals were scorched to death by scalding volcanic materials in Bonga, Buyuan and Mabinit villages in this city during a series of Mayon eruptions from February to April in 1993.
Taking chances
Despite President Macapagal-Arroyo’s order of forced evacuation, some residents within the 8-km extended danger zone would rather take their chances than leave their possessions and animals behind.
“We have lived here for a long time, we know the volcano. We’d rather spend Christmas here than in the crowded evacuation centers,” said Cris Mendioro, 34, of Barangay Matanag.
Mendioro, whose house is just a few meters from an Army checkpoint, said he and the others had packed their belongings and were ready to leave should a major eruption come.
Volcanologists have placed Mayon—which began spewing ash and lava on Dec. 14—under alert level 4, meaning a hazardous blast could occur within hours or days. The highest alert, level 5, means a major eruption is under way.
Wailing of dogs
Aside from Mayon’s productive soil, cattle, crops, and attachment to pets—like dogs—impel villagers to risk their lives and hang on in their residences, instead of living in evacuation sites.
“We are already listed at the evacuation center but heads of families, like me, come back to feed the pigs and pets,” Arnulfo Marcellana, 43, of Barangay Mabinit, told the Inquirer yesterday morning during the forced evacuation.
“The dogs are pitiful to hear every time we return here. They wail in hunger. If only they will assure us that they will feed our animals, things would be much easier for us,” the father of three added.
On one of his returns, Marcellana decided to just untie his 4-month-old pig so it could look for its own food.
“I just hope it is still there when we are allowed to come back,” he said. “Imagine if their cries are heard at the evacuation center. We would wonder if our pets and animals were having anything to eat.”
Marcellana said the thought kept haunting him and his family now that they were heeding warnings not to return home just yet.
‘I am used to this’
Luis Esquivel, also of Mabini and a relative of some of the farmers killed in the 1993 eruption, said that although he kept coming back to his village, he could not sleep.
He said he was always on the alert, closely watching Mayon’s crater while he tended his crops.
“I have my motorcycle always with me for a quick escape,” Esquivel said. “I am used to this. I have experienced these things six times in my life since childhood.”
He added: “What we are afraid of is the ‘uson’ (pyroclastic flows), which killed farmers here.”
Forced evacuation
In Barangay Bonga, 8 km from the crater, hundreds of people still roamed the streets as if nothing was happening with the volcano.
“Barangay Bonga will be our next target for the forced evacuation simultaneously with other areas in the northern and eastern side of Mayon,” said Capt. Razaleigh G. Bansawan, 901st Infantry Brigade and Task Force Mayon spokesperson.
Mila Atun, 45, a mother of 6, said she came back not only to get firewood and kitchen utensils but also to fetch Mariel Alaurin, an 8-year-old neighbor left behind by her parents, who are now at an evacuation center.
Alaurin, in tears, said her father was working in the rice field when he was taken to the evacuation center. She was left alone at home.
Atun said: “We have gotten used to this kind of situation—evacuating even if we are safe here.”
No entry
As early as 5 a.m. yesterday, Task Force Mayon, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and local government units began implementing Ms Arroyo’s evacuation order.
“A platoon of soldiers from the task force and CHR-Bicol and three military vehicles were sent to the villages within the 6-8-kilometer danger zones to enforce the directive,” Bansawan said.
“As soon as the mission is completed 100 percent, all roads to the restricted areas will be sealed off,” Bansawan said.
No exceptions
Col. Marlou Salazar, commanding officer of the 901st Brigade, briefed the enforcers on the rights of the people and the troops’ responsibilities after everyone had been taken out of the danger zones.
“They will have to patrol the area against thieves because the residents have left some of their belongings, some animals, like pigs, and their pets,” Salazar said.
“Forcible evacuation has been ordered, no more exceptions and operations have commenced,” Salceda said.
He added: “We have patiently explored and employed all means, all ways, just to get the 10,000 families out of danger. We could have completed the task in one day, instead of nine days, but did not due to the 179 families still out there, excluding those who have returned without letting us know.”
He said dogs would also be evacuated, as well as cattle, carabaos, pigs and pets.
New phase
Harmonic tremors from within the volcano have been replaced by more frequent explosions.
Volcanologist Alex Baloloy said these changes, noted since 4 p.m. Wednesday, might indicate a new phase in the volcano’s activity.
Lava fountains reaching a peak height of 500 meters were seen at least four times.
But even if the number of volcanic earthquakes have dropped to 815 from Tuesday’s 1,051 and the sulfur dioxide emission rate have fallen to 5,737 tons a day from 6,737 tons, Baloloy said a hazardous blast was still possible.
“These figures are still very high. There is no lull in Mayon’s volcanic activity,” the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) scientist said.
Many of Wednesday’s ash explosions were not visible as Mayon was mostly covered with clouds but 124 booms were heard.
Lava at plantations
Lava continued to flow down, reaching flat areas along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi, and Lidong channels—all in the volcano’s southeast sector covering this city and the towns of Sto. Domingo and Daraga.
Baloloy said the lava front could have already reached coconut and vegetable plantations, but it was expected to travel more slowly henceforth, having hit flat areas.
In Manila, Phivolcs Director Renato Solidum said the decreased number of earthquakes was not a sign that Mayon would quiet down.
“It is the tremors that is more significant. Tremors and the rumbling sounds are longer and more vital... To say the volcano is on its way to quieting down based on the number of recorded earthquakes would be misleading,” Solidum told the Inquirer.
He said volcanic earthquakes, tremors and rumblings were not the only basis in considering the activity of a volcano. Other factors, he said, like ash explosions and lava flow, should be considered.
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