Rafael I.

Areja

11 - ST. ANDREW

By John Jack Wigley. It focuses on his experiences and insights during the eruption of
Mount Pinatubo. Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcanic caldera in the Zambales
Mountains, located on the tripoint boundary of the Philippine provinces of Zambales,
Tarlac and Pampanga, all in Central Luzon on the northern island of Luzon. Pinatubo
was heavily eroded and unobtrusive from view. The dense forests covering the volcano
supported a population of several thousand indigenous Aetas. Its eruptive history was
undisclosed to most before the pre-eruption volcanic activities of 1991, just before it
erupted on June 15, 1991.

John Jack Wigley, a management trainee at Pizza Hut Harrison Plaza, had lived in
Angeles City for more than two decades, but he was based in Manila to work. Weeks
before the eruption, he already read several news and warnings about Mt. Pinatubo. He
never knew that there was a volcano in the Zambales mountain range, and he
underestimated the strength of the volcano because he thought that volcanoes were
conspicuous mountains like Mayon and Halcon.

One day, John Jack Wigley went to see a film; afterwards, he saw parked cars covered
with ash when he went outside. He also thought that it was finally snowing because of
the streets covered with ash. Wigley got worried that his family might be unsafe in
Angeles City. He went to Angeles City on his day-off but a bridge had collapsed so he
had to cross the river. People were having a hard time crossing the river. Some people
were lining up to cross the river by stepping on coconut trunks and wooden poles
attached from one end to another, but he saw barkers holding wooden chairs
transporting people to the other side. He paid one barker 15 pesos to get him through.
He realized that when calamities happen, the poor transform because of the services
they offer while the higher class get too affected by them. As he was walking towards
his house, he thought what the future would hold for that city. He hoped that they would
get past all those things soon. He was so worried until he got to his house knowing that
his family was safe. He saw his Mother carrying load, telling him that she will go to Dau
to bring the load to his ate. He was dumbfounded that his mother was not afraid to cross
the river telling him, “Only the old ones are afraid to cross the river.”