Mayon: the social volcano

Mt. Mayon is on the brink of a major eruption and it might happen within days, even on New Year’s Day as the pre-explosive phase gets stronger.

Two weeks after Bicol’s grand volcano started showing signs of heightened activities, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) seismographs picked up hundreds of volcanic quakes; volcanic materials and lava flowed continuously, forcing thousands of Filipinos away from the rumbling mountain of fire.

Fire mountain

Mayon’s first recorded eruption was in 1616. Its deadliest explosion was in February 1, 1814 when it buried the entire town of Cagsawa under ash and killed more than 1,300 people.

Days after Mayon started to spew ashes early this month, Philvocs raised the alert status to level 4. Now it is preparing to declare alert level 5. As of December 26, scientists noted intensification of Mayon’s restiveness – it released more than 20 million cubic meters of lava or volcanic material deposits, lava fountain increased from 500 meters to 1 kilometer from the crater, rock falls and rumblings sounds continue.

Sulfur dioxide emissions increased from 2,738 to 8,993 tons per day. Lava flows are leading to Buyuan, Camalig and Daraga towns. Overflowing pyroclastic materials rushing down at the speeds of 100 km per hour, with temperatures of up to 420 degrees Celsius already filled rivers and continue to create other paths.

All these are indicators that force and pressure inside the volcano further builds up, leading to a bigger, more dangerous explosion. According to a Philvocs bulletin, "Since persistent high unrest is evident at present, the possibility of hazardous volcanic eruption is high.”

Almost perfect

Mt. Mayon is known as the Philippines’ volcano with an almost perfect cone. Foreign and local tourists flock to Albay province in Bicol to see and experience its world-class grandeur.

Now, even at the time of its impending eruption, Mayon’s distant view especially at night is a sight to watch, an exceptional subject for photography enthusiasts – fire red lava oozing out of Mayon’s crater. Observers even noted intensified crater glow and continuous rolling down of incandescent materials from the crater. At daytime, mushroom-like ash clouds cover Mayon’s peak.

For some, seeing Mayon at this state is phenomenal. But for thousands of Bicolanos in Albay and the entire region, Mayon’s inevitable eruption will only bury them in deeper poverty and hardship.

Evacuation of residents within the six to eight kilometer danger zone continue. As of December 25, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) report indicated that 10,032 families or 47,560 people are now housed in 29 evacuation centers in Camalig, Daraga, Malilipot Sto. Domingo and Guinobatan towns; and Legazpi, Tabaco and Ligao Cities.

Albay provincial governor Joey Salceda, also an economic adviser to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said they are posed to evacuate some 70,000 more residents in the event of heavy rains.

The province was declared an ‘open city’ to help facilitate immediate assistance from local and international donors. Setting politics aside, Salceda said even Malacanang critics and opposition candidates are welcome to give help to Mayon evacuees.

Thousands of families spent Christmas at evacuation centers. Among the initial problems identified at the temporary shelter were lack of water supply and toilets, according to NDCC. Salceda they are still in need of emergency shelter kits, portable latrine sets at classroom tents. An estimate of P1.5 million is spent per day for the food of evacuees.

Salceda said they started the Work for Food program to battle the ‘culture of dependency’ among evacuees and help normalize their life in the evacuation centers.

Last month, Malacanang granted P977 million for poverty reduction in Albay. Under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, 70,000 poor families who are identified beneficiaries will receive monthly financial subsidy of P1,400 for five years through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

But with Mayon’s situation, this dole-out program would not be enough even to cover the immediate relief and rehabilitation needs of affected victims, especially extremely poor households residing near the volcano.

Another volcano

Around Mayon is another volcano – the social volcano of poor Bicolanos waiting to erupt.

Mayon sits in Bicol region, where more than half of the population lives in scarcity. In 2008, the National Economic Development Board (NEDB) revealed that at least 51 percent of the 5,109,798 total regional population lives below the poverty line.

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) regional office, under Arroyo’s governance, poverty incidence in Bicol worsened despite the region’s much-hyped economic growth posted at 4.3 percent last year.

The poverty situation in Bicol began to worsen between 2003 and 2006 when a 10.1 percent increase in the total number of poor families was registered.

Last year, the poor families in the region represented 9 percent of the total poor families all over the country, the second highest share of poor families next to Region 6, Western Visayas.

NSCB Bicol Regional Director Gil R. Arce said that Bicol was one of the five regions in the country that recorded growths higher than the national average. “Unfortunately, such growth failed to trickle down to the food tables of many Bicolano families,” bicolmail.com reported.

Lack of employment opportunities, effects of the economic downturn and natural calamities that hit the region account for Bicol’s downtrodden economic status. “Bicol remains poor due to the effect of natural calamities; our agricultural production was badly affected when disastrous weather hit us,” Engr. Luis Banua of NEDB said.

Rich but vulnerable

Geographically, Bicol is vulnerable to natural and man-made calamities. A large number of tropical storms come through this region first before it hits any other part of Luzon. Super typhoon Reming ravaged the region in 2006. After that, cyanide spills and fish kills linked to the open-pit mining of Lafayatte Philippines in Rapu-Rapu, Albay, happened despite warnings from anti-mining advocates.

Majority of Bicol is agricultural, with hectares of palay, coconut, tobacco and abaca plantations spread throughout its six provinces. Landslides and floods, both in urban and rural areas, destroy millions worth of agricultural crops and infrastructure yearly.

It is hard to imagine how a region, with vast natural resources remain poor. As Father Jose Lobrigo of the Bicol Consortium for Development Initiatives (BCDI) observed, “while Bicol teems with distinct natural resources, it is often put in the spotlight when disasters strike…” like now with Mayon’s possible eruption.

A Businessworld report enumerated Bicol’s riches – it is home to 13 major fishing grounds that supplies fish markets as far as Metro Manila; one of the highest producers of palay, abaca, corn and coconut; has voluminous mineral reserves including gold, copper, silver, iron, phosphate rock, perlite, red clay, marble, guano and bentonite.

It has many potentially good energy sources including geothermal, hydropower, higher terrains and ocean thermal energy. It has coal reserves in Albay, Catanduanes and Masbate; downstream oil facilities and depot in Camarines Sur and Masbate, with a total storage capacity of 87.9 million barrels. The region also boasts of biomass energy through the use of coconut husks and rice hulls to generate energy.

Yet, Bicol region remains the fourth poorest region in the country in terms of poverty incidence and the second poorest in terms of number of poor families. It is also the second poorest region in Luzon.

A poverty mapping survey found, among others, that the poorest areas in Bicol are the most remote, where people rely on farming and fishing for food and income. They have the least access to potable drinking water, electricity and sanitary toilets. They have the highest infant and child mortality rates and the highest level of malnutrition among children below five years old.”

“They have the least developed roads, transport facilities and infrastructure, the survey also showed. They belong to the 5th and 4th class municipalities, explaining the inadequate services.”

Based on the poll, education and landlessness are the two most pressing issues of Bicolanos, bicolrage.com posted. Past interventions to address poverty in the region failed to translate into any significant improvement in the quality of life of Bicolanos, BCDI noted.

Hotbed of struggles

Something is brewing in the land of volcanoes, whalesharks and chili, and it’s not only Mayon.

The centuries-old condition of landlessness and impoverishment of Bicolanos made the region fertile for struggles. There, the battle between the government and communist revolutionaries for winning the hearts and minds of the people is particularly intense.

In fact, the military cited Bicol’s provinces as insurgency hot spots with the presence of New Peoples Army (NPA) guerillas. It is listed among the “priority areas” in the government’s counter-“insurgency” campaign.

The government vowed to end insurgency in Bicol by June 2010 through intensification of military offensives. Philippine Army officials said they will put the revolutionary movement in the region at an ‘insignificant level’ and wipe it out in the next two years.

Early this year, street protests in Bicol heated in opposition to the US-RP Balikatan exercises aimed at “disaster rehabilitation and rural development projects.” The joint exercises have been arranged for engineering and medical missions in the provinces of Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon but even Senator Francis Escudero remained cautious on other agenda of the operations.

While he admitted that insurgency problem in Bicol still persists and needs to be addressed in all fronts, he said the government should keep external forces out of the matter.

According to Bulatlat.com, a fact sheet from the foreign affairs department stated that “the civic-humanitarian component of Visiting Forces Agreement-related exercises also form the backbone of the soft approach to combating terrorism…”

Critics of Arroyo’s “all-out war” policy argue that armed movements cannot be crushed by sole military might. Poverty and social injustice are at the core of armed conflict, they say.

Among the demands of Bicolanos include significant government response to social needs - food security, health, education, access to safe drinking water, sanitation and basic housing; protection of vulnerable groups; democratic governance; improvement of economic conditions; environmental protection and gender rights. Conflict prevention and peace building based on the resolution of the roots of the armed conflict is also necessary.

Like other calamities that passed Bicol, Mayon’s inevitable outburst will be a proof of how the government attends to these concerns.

Photo: “When the smoke is going down” by Storm Crypt. Taken from Flickr. Some rights reserved.

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