LESSONS

from
THREE
DISASTERS
LESSONS
from
THREE
DISASTERS
8 Pinatubo
28 Years Later

24
Ormoc
Flood

38 Marcopper
Mining
Spill
Lessons
from three
Disasters

4
Introduction
The Philippines is
no stranger to disasters.
Located just above the equator in the
Pacific region where warm ocean waters
fuel storms, the country gets an average
of 20 storms a year, a handful of them
powerful enough to cause devastation.
Sitting on the Ring of Fire, where most
of the active volcanoes are located, and
where earthquakes occur because of the
regular movement of tectonic plates, the
Philippines gets its share of quakes, tremors
and volcanic eruptions.
While earthquakes, volcanic eruptions
and typhoons that spawn flooding and
landslides are natural events, their impacts
on the Philippines are severe, authorities say,
because they strike places where the poor
segments of the population live – in coastal
communities, hillsides, unsafe or unstable
settlements in urban areas.
Countless environmental disasters in the
country have caused death, destruction and
displacement. They have wiped out villages,
altered landscapes and deprived communities
of livelihoods. Long afterwards, the affected
communities continued to experience untold
misery, uncertainty, health problems and
economic losses.
Journalists know this only too well. Many
have covered one disaster after another in
a span of months, sometimes even weeks.
These disasters are front-page stories or
top items in television news programs
when they happen and days immediately
after. But slowly they become secondary
news until they disappear from the news
altogether.
More often than not, these disasters fade
from the public’s memory, along with the
lessons people ought to learn from them.
VERA Files, under a project with Internews,
sought to revisit three “cold” environmental
cases to see what changes have occurred
over the years in places that took a hit from
the disasters. These are the eruption of
Mount Pinatubo in June 1991, the massive
5
flooding in Ormoc in November 1991 and
the March1996 mining spill in Marinduque
province, a man-made disaster whose
effects have remained in the ecosystem and
in the veins of its residents till this day.
Stories written by journalists based on visits
to these places were first published on the
VERA Files website and are now compiled
in this book.
This e-book documents the stories of
people who survived the wrath of nature:
men and women who fled flooded
villages in the nick of time; families that
lost homes, livelihoods and a part of
their past, people who continue to suffer
from various ailments caused by a toxic
environment.
Some survivors of the Ormoc tragedy, for
instance, are still haunted by memories of
that fateful day when a rampaging mix of
mud, debris and logs swept their houses,
kin and neighbors to the Ormoc Sea, wrote
Cooper Resabal, who visited the place
where about 6,000 people lost their lives
almost 28 years ago.
“By looking into these ‘cold’ environment cases, VERA Files hopes to rekindle public
interest in these issues and highlight lessons that would be useful in crafting laws and
policies that could prevent a repeat of these disasters.”
Days after the disaster, dump trucks were
collecting bodies of flood victims, taking
them direct to a common gravesite. A few
corpses could be seen by the roadside.
The Nov. 5, 1991 flash flood came after
three days of heavy rainfall from a typhoon,
aggravated by the deforestation of a
watershed. The presence of informal settlers
along the riverbanks and the Ormoc Bay
contributed to the heavy death toll.
Measures have since been taken by
authorities to prevent a similar disaster from
happening. These include maintaining the
technical mitigating structures on the rivers,
restoring the watershed ecosystem, and
preparing communities to face disasters.
Villagers have also become more aware
of the ill effects of deforestation. Ormoc
City now also has a Local Climate Change
Action Plan.
Mount Pinatubo ejected ash for weeks
before it blew its top on June 15, 1991 in
what is now recorded as one of the biggest
volcanic eruptions this century.
Steam explosions and small earthquakes
that occurred prior to the major eruption
alerted people living around the volcano
that had awakened from more than five
centuries of slumber. Timely forecasts
6
enabled residents to evacuate to safer
places, preventing heavy casualties.
But while residents were forewarned, they
did not know what to expect. One resident
thought he could watch the eruption from
afar and take photos from a safe distance.
But that was not how it played out.
When Pinatubo erupted, it spewed out 7 to
10 cubic kilometers of hot ash, rocks and
pyroclastic flows, blanketing its slopes,
burying farmlands and houses. The black
ash clouds turned day into night, reaching
areas as far away as Manila.
The Aeta that lived on its slopes lost their
entire world that day and for many years
were forced to live in settlements alien to
their culture.
“We thought the morning after the
eruption it was all over. Then we realized
it was only just the beginning because
of the lahars that came every year,” a
resident and local historian told Johnna
Villaviray Giolagon, who spent a few days
in Pampanga and Zambales interviewing
survivors and officials.
“Lahar” is an Indonesian term that
describes a mixture of water and rock
fragments that flows down the slopes of a
volcano when it rains. In no time, it became
a household term as residents would be
faced with lahar flows whenever typhoons
pounded Pampanga and Zambales and
rainwater loosened and carried the
deposits into rivers, sometimes reaching
populated areas.
Volcanologists warn that the danger from
lahar still exists, especially in cases of
extreme rainfall.
Meanwhile, something surreal is happening
in parts of Marinduque that have been
poisoned by a toxic mine spillage.
From a hill, two mine tailing ponds looked
like serene lakes surrounded by lush trees,
but Nikko Dizon, who made a trip to the
province, was cautioned that the bluish
green water is highly toxic.
On March 24, 1996, a badly-sealed
drainage tunnel in Marcopper Mining
Corporation’s Taipan pit burst, spilling 1.6
million cubic meters of toxic mine tailings
into the Boac River and killed marine life.
Three years earlier, another siltation dam
of the company gave way, flooding Mogpog
town with mine waste.
Both Boac and Mogpog rivers are
considered biologically dead.
The environment is not the only casualty,
though. People living in those parts
continue to breathe in contaminated air,
and there is no certainty as to how the
situation can be reversed. Heavy metal runs
through the veins of its residents – adults
and children alike – 23 years after the
disaster.
While Marinduque has imposed a 50-year
moratorium on large- and small-scale
mining in the province as a result of the
disaster, the contaminated environment
has not been rehabilitated and poses
a serious threat to people and the
environment.
The cases of Mount Pinatubo, Ormoc and
the Marcopper mine spill constitute a very
small percentage of the disasters that have
struck the Philippines through the years,
exacting a heavy toll on people and the
environment.
By looking into these “cold” environment
cases, VERA Files hopes to rekindle public
interest in these issues and highlight lessons
that would be useful in crafting laws and
policies that could prevent a repeat of these
disasters.
As a stern warning engraved on a slab of
granite built to memorialize lives lost in the
Ormoc tragedy says, “For when nature is
disturbed, it strikes back in fury and spares
no one.” – Chi Liquicia
7
Pinatubo
28 years
after

8
9
Eruption, The San Guillermo Parish Church,
originally built in 1576, stands just off the

Lahar, and
main highway linking Bacolor town to the
rest of Pampanga province.

Resilience
Rebuilt in 1886, the structure is now
literally half of its previous glory. The
church’s bottom half is buried under six
By Johnna Villaviray Giolagon meters of lahar that swallowed the town
and most of the province. It still serves the
Whenever the townsfolk town’s faithful who access the building
of Bacolor go to the San through what used to be second windows
Guillermo Parish Church, converted into doorways.

they enter the worship place “All of Bacolor is buried under lahar
through the upper windows, especially the downtown area where the
as what they have been church is,” says Renato Solidum, chief of
the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
doing the past 28 years
Seismology.
since Mt. Pinatubo erupted
and altered their lives in Solidum was already serving the agency
ways they never imagined. when Mount Pinatubo woke up from its
500-year slumber in 1991 following a 7.7
magnitude earthquake that shook northern
parts of the country a year earlier.

On June 15, 1991, the afternoon sky turned

pitch black as ash, rock and other volcanic
material were ejected into the sky.

On the same day, Typhoon Diding

(international name: Nunya) crossed 75
kilometers northeast of Pinatubo. While
considered by meteorologists as a minimal
typhoon, Diding nonetheless dispersed
volcanic ash all over Luzon and as far as the
middle of the Pacific Ocean and mainland
Southeast Asia.

After Pinatubo heaved its final explosion,

survivors of its wrath emerged from their
homes and sanctuaries to a world coated
by or buried deep under meters of gray
volcanic ash.
June 1991 after Mt. Pinatubo eruption.

File photo from Philvolcs.

The eruption of the then little-known
volcano destroyed or damaged houses,
farmlands and infrastructure and claimed
the lives of dozens of people and displaced
hundreds of thousands of families. It
was one of the world’s largest volcanic
eruptions in the past century, geologists say.

10
Mt Pinatubo eruption in June 1991.
File photo from Phivolcs.
Jolts and ash fall
“We thought the morning after the eruption
it was all over. Then we realized it was only
just the beginning because of the lahars that
came every year,” said local historian Robert
Tantingco, director of Kapampangan
Studies in Holy Angel University.
When Pinatubo erupted, it spewed out 7 to
10 cubic kilometers of ash that blanketed
areas as far away as Manila in a coat of fine,
gray ash.
Much of that was dumped on the slopes of
the volcano. Pyroclastic flows easily overran
the slopes of Pinatubo, engulfing gullies as
deep as 200 meters.
The Aeta that lived on the slopes lost their
entire world. The mountain and centuries-
old forests they knew were wiped out and
replaced by a barren and unfriendly place.
The U.S. Clark Air Base located several
kilometers from Pinatubo was abandoned
after it was buried in volcanic ash. The
American military eventually closed the
installation.
While residents were forewarned of the
eruption, nobody knew what to expect.
“What I imagined was Mount Mayon. We
will watch it from afar. We would watch
a trickle of glowing lavas and we will take
11
pictures from a safe distance,” recalled
Tantingco, who was then 31 years old.
He was wrong.
Tantingco was at the family home in
Mabalacat town when the sky turned dark
around noontime on June 15, 1991. Pinatubo
had finally erupted, ejecting a column of ash
and other materials up to 34 kilometers into
the air.
“I was bewildered by it,” he recalled. “I could
hear the mudflow in the brook near our
house. It was not the usual splashing water; it
was something heavy, something sinister.”
The darkness went on and on even as
Typhoon Diding pummeled the roof with
rain and then, later on, with rocks and other
volcanic debris.
Earthquakes shook the ground every few
minutes, exponentially adding to the anxiety
of those in the vicinity.
“We were huddled together like frightened
animals, crying…Of all the things that
frightened us that night, it was the
earthquakes,” Tantingco said.
“It was continuous. They were hard jolts. I
realized (later) it was because of the falling
rocks, collapsing rocks from the crater, the
rim of the volcano.”
Like in a twilight zone
There was a frantic flow of vehicle and
pedestrian traffic away from the area that
night.
People were fleeing because of fears of a
nuclear explosion from the nearby Clark
Air Base. There were also unfounded
rumors in the radio that “Pinatubo was
spewing so much material that it was
emptying the underground, that whole
province would collapse.” Another version
of the story was that “there was a fissure or
a crack on the slope of the mountain that
will cause a slide, a massive landslide that
will bury the province.”
“I honestly felt I was going to die,”
Tantingco said.
“And then sometime during the night,
things just started getting weird because
the sound was already muffled. You can’t
hear anything,” he said. “The ash fall
was so thick the soundwaves could not
penetrate the wall of ash fall. Everything
was quiet. You could not hear the rocks fall
on the roof because there’s a layer of ash.”
“Then the orange, red, green flashes
of lighting crossing the sky, then the
earthquakes, Tantingco continued. “The
A viewing deck was
built on the edge of Mt
Pinatubo’s caldera to
provide tourists a better
view of Crater Lake,
built when the volcano’s
summit collapsed in on
itself during the eruption
and eventually filled
with water. It is now
becoming a popular
attraction for local and
international tourists.
Photo by Terence
Gonzalves.
general feeling that you’re in the Twilight
Zone.”
“The next day, the sun came out and
the ground stopped shaking. I waited
patiently for daybreak. And when it finally
came, everything was grey, everything was
destroyed,” the historian narrated.
He stepped out of the front door to an
empty neighborhood heavily dusted with
volcanic ash. Not long afterward, a friend
“Then the orange, red, came over; they only had hugs of relief for
green flashes of lighting each other.
crossing the sky, then the
“It had been a traumatic night and the only
earthquakes, Tantingco response was to cry. It was the first time
continued. The general that I cried.”
feeling that you’re in the
Tantingco stayed in the family home by
Twilight Zone.” himself after his family evacuated to Baguio
City, about 155 kilometers away, shortly
after the eruption. Eventually his father
came home, and then his mother. After a
while, even the little ones came home.
Life was never the same after that fateful
day. Despite that, the Tantingcos stayed,
along with most Kapampangans.
They all adapted to life after a night of
what seemed like the Apocalypse every
time the lahars charged down to the
lowlands whenever it rained.
12
Landscape changed by lahar
Lahar is a rampaging slurry of thick debris
– pyroclastic material and ash – and water
washed down by the rain from the slopes
of Pinatubo. The lahar is then delivered to
lowland towns and cities through rivers
originating from the volcano – the Tarlac,
Sacobia-Bamban, Abacan, and the Pasig
Potrero Rivers.
Lahar flows buried half of the San
Guillermo Parish Church as well as the
Bamban Bridge in the North Luzon
Express.
“Immediately after the eruption, you can
see the smoother slopes of the volcano
because river valleys were covered,”
Solidum, the country’s chief volcanologist,
said.
“In satellite images you can actually see the
difference. Before the eruption you can see
rough surfaces in the slopes of the volcano
and then after, you see smooth because of
these thick deposits.”
Unfortunately, the lahars didn’t stay on the
slopes. In the years following the eruption,
seasonal monsoon rains eroded lahar
deposits and carried them down to the low
lands – Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales.
Ash from Pinatubo now
forms the wall of the
gorge where the Tarlac
River. This demonstrates
how much volcanic
material remains on the
slopes of the volcano,
which continues to pose
a possible threat to low-
lying areas.
Photo by Terence
Gonzalves.
The lahars follow the path of the river
systems. The provinces of Tarlac and
Zambales were relatively lucky compared to
Pampanga, where the rivers were circuitous
and wound around population centers.
“(Lahars) go towards the sea. And the path
towards the sea – which is Manila Bay for
Phivolcs chief Renato Solidum.
Pampanga – is circuitous,” Tantingco said.
“Here in Pampanga, rivulets and rivers
and canals were located in the middle of
communities - towns, villages, and cities
– before emptying into Manila Bay. All of
that were buried.”
And among Pampanga towns and cities,
Bacolor was worst hit. Nineteen out of its
21 towns were buried under lahar. In some
areas, only roofs could be seen where a
barangay once stood.
Bacolor’s original name was Bakulud, a
Kapampangan word meaning high ground.
As it turns out, Bacolor is elevated ground
precisely because pyroclastic materials
from Pinatubo is routinely dumped over the
area, piling up over the years.
Regular lahar attacks from Mt. Pinatubo
stopped only in 1995. By this time, Bacolor
had reclaimed its previous status as
elevated land.
13
Lakes are formed, rivers diverted
Another phenomenon brought about
by lahar flows is the damming of
river systems. The mouths of rivulets
are essentially plugged, cutting off
the tributaries from the main river,
flooding the adjacent area, and basically
creating a lake because of the absence of
drainage.
The most spectacular of these lakes is the
Mount Pinatubo crater lake in Botolan
town, now a major tourist draw in
Zambales.
It was formed after the eruption
destroyed the volcano’s original summit,
leaving a caldera that eventually filled
with water. It is as deep as 600 meters in
some points.
These lakes are as much as worry for
scientists as rampaging lahars.
A fact sheet on Pinatubo issued by the
U.S. Geological Services says: “After a
few weeks or months, the lakes overtop
and quickly erode through their dams,
releasing large volumes of water that
generate major lahars. Because these large
and powerful mudflows can occur without
warning, even when there is no rain,
they are among the most dangerous of
Pinatubo’s lahars.”
“One lake on the Pasig-Potrero River, on
the volcano’s east flank, has formed and
broken out three times (1991, 1992 and
1994), creating giant lahars that have
killed dozens of people,” it said.
Mapanuepe Lake in San Marcelino town is
another one of these lakes.
“This was an actual event happening in
front of my eyes,” Solidum recalled.
“When the lahar was making the corner or
the intersection of the Marella river with
the Mapanuepe river becoming shallower,
you would see the water going upstream.”
14
Tributaries are normally shallower than
the main river. With the Mapanuepe
River heavily silted with lahar, it became
shallower.
Eventually the exit to the Marella River
got plugged, drowning the adjacent
communities. Today, the sole reminder of
the former barangay is the church steeple
jutting out of the middle of the lake.
But while areas like Bacolor and the
Mapanuepe Valley were practically erased
off the face of the planet, other areas were
relatively spared from rampaging lahars.
That’s because lahar flows sometimes
dam certain rivers thus diverting lahars
to other areas.
“They cannibalized each other during the
Mount Pinatubo eruption. The alteration
of the slopes was so extreme the rivers
were diverted one day then they were
back the next day,” Tantingco, the local
historian, said.
For instance, in 1992, secondary
eruptions eroded the partition between
the Sacobia and Abacan rivers,
diverting all the lahars to the Sacobia
River.
“People in the low lands don’t know when
the lahars are going to come. One day
the lahars are flowing in Sacobia the next
day they are flowing in Abacan because
they keep cannibalizing each other,”
Tantingco explained.
Longitudinal profile of the Sacobia-
Bamban River, starting at 350 meters in
elevation, 12 kilometers from the summit
of Mount Pinatubo, and extending down
to less than 50 meters in elevation.
Pre-eruption profile is shown by the
lower solid line; 1991 lahar deposit by
the dashed line; 1992 lahar deposit by
the upper solid line. Note that vertical
exaggeration is 5 times and that only
the lower, gently-sloping reaches of the
Sacobia are shown.
The stillness of Mapanuepe Lake belies the tragedy that it
is borne out of. The lake was created when lahars blocked
the mouth of the Mapanuepe River, flooding the valley and
its settlements.

Photo by Terence Gonzalves.

15
 A newbie hiker’s guide
to Mount Pinatubo
By Johnna Villaviray Giolagon

Hikers will be adequately challenged by

the terrain - which shifts from sand to
pebbles to unstable rocks - even if the
incline is barely noticeable.

Photo by Terence Gonzalves.

16
Mount Pinatubo exploded in a
spectacular display in 1991 and
buried everything around it in ash
and other volcanic debris. She heaved
everything out with such force that
the peak collapsed into itself, plugging
the crater and creating a caldera that
eventually filled with water.
Immediately after the eruption and some
years later, thousands fled her wrath.
These days, however, she is attracting
a steady stream of hikers up her slopes.
They pay homage to Crater Lake, a pool
of what looks like liquid jade that is 600
meters at its deepest.
Getting to the view deck is an adventure
in itself.
Mount Pinatubo is at the tri-boundary of
the provinces of Zambales, Pampanga,
and Tarlac but the most tourist-friendly
point is from Capas town in Tarlac
through the military reservation where
the army’s Camp O’Donnell is located.
There are numerous tour organizers you
can contact and various hotels or hostels
to choose from. You can even try to go
solo and organize his or her own trek.
Whichever way, here’s what to expect for
the day:
• A registered organizer will give a
briefing as early as 6 a.m. to explain
how and why they strictly follow
procedure. They will also explain the
fees collected, where it goes, why
it is collected. Hikers over 40 years
old have to get their blood pressure
checked. A trained medical volunteer
will be sent to accompany your trek –
at an added cost – in case there are
doubts about your fitness and health.
• There is an 8 a.m. cut-off for tours.
No group leaves past this time.
• Sturdy sandals and socks are
recommended. You will be crossing
streams so expect your feet to get
wet. On the other hand, closed
footwear will provide protection
should you accidentally stub your toes
on the many, many rocks on the trail.
• There won’t be any trees to provide
protection from the elements. Put on
sun block and a hat, wear comfortable
clothes, and plan for hot and rainy
weather. Bring drinks and snacks that
will give you a quick energy boost but
nothing so heavy.
• A maximum of five tourists will be
accommodated in a 4x4 jeep that
will take you from base camp to
the farthest point possible. The trail
changes by the day and, in some
cases, by the hour, depending on
weather conditions.
• The peak of Mount Pinatubo is 24
kilometers from base camp at the
barangay. The jeep can take you as
close as 3 kilometers on really good
days in summer or as far as six
kilometers when the weather isn’t as
dry.
• You will be trekking along the riverbed
of the Tarlac River. You will be
walking over sand, gravel, stones and
boulders. The slope has a very easy
incline that you will barely notice it.
• If on level ground you can cover 6
kilometers in just over an hour of
brisk walking, expect to go slower in
Pinatubo because of the terrain.
• The more stops you make to rest and
take photos, the longer the trek will
17
take. Some make it in an hour and a
half. Some take as long as three hours
to get to the top – “senior citizen
pace,” as a guide would say in jest.
• A hut marks the 4-kilometer distance
from the peak. The next rest stop
marks the last kilometer and offers
two toilets.
• The last kilometer up to the peak is
by far the most difficult you have to
maneuver. You basically trace where
the water originates so the trail is wet
and slippery. Be extra careful.
• The view deck is a small park where
you can rest and comfortably soak in
the majestic view. From here, there
is stone staircase leading down the
other side of the slope to Crater Lake,
about 160 steps below. It can take as
long as 10 minutes going down and
twice that long coming back up.
• Swimming is not allowed in Crater
Lake. A drunk tourist drowned there
years ago and authorities do not want
a repeat of the tragedy. You can touch
the water though.
• Everyone – tourists and even the park
staff – are allowed to stay there only
until 12 noon. After that, everyone
goes down. You risk getting stranded
if you stay too late and caught by the
afternoon showers.
• It rains suddenly and without warning
high in the mountain. The sudden
showers can cause the mountainside
streams to swell and become too
dangerous to cross. You don’t want to
get stranded there when it rains.
• Do what your guide says. He’s been
doing this for a long time so listen to
his advice. He knows what he’s saying
and doing.
• Enjoy the experience.
18
 The trek to Pinatubo is more or less
a 6-kilometer hike across the rocky
riverbed of the Tarlac River. Photo by
Terence Gonzalves.

19
 How the people living in the vicinity of
Mount Pinatubo, including the Aetas,
coped with Mount Pinatubo’s anger 28
years ago.
Phivolcs file photo.
Movement of people
All this flooding is because the rivers were
heavily silted with lahars initially dumped
on the slopes of the volcano and then
eroded downstream by the rains.
“The land became higher so that there
are areas that get flooded when it didn’t
get flooded before the eruption. There are
areas where the floods take weeks before
they go down,” explained Art Daag, head
of Phivolcs’ geology office.
The local governments of Pampanga have
since reconstructed land titles for private
land especially in population centers.
Some were able to rebuild over the
property they lost and pick up almost
where they left off. Others – sometimes
whole communities – had to relocate to
settlements designated by government.
Following the eruption and the lahars,
the government undertook hazard
mapping to determine which areas are
safe for habitation. Some of the original
settlements now fall within danger zones.
20
It took many, many years before
vegetation returned to Pinatubo but it
took the mountain’s original Aeta dwellers
decades to come home.
There are the Aeta, for instance, already
granted titles to ancestral domain and
who have reestablished a community
up the mountain but continue to live in
lowland resettlement communities.
This circumstance is not unique to upland
people.
“Now you will find resettlement areas in
Mabalacat, a whole town that was not
there before. But there are communities
of thousands. They never went back,”
Tantingco said.
“During elections, for example, the
mayor running in Bacolor has to go there
(Mabalacat).
Geographically, they are in Mabalacat
but…you will find yourself already in a
place populated by non-Mabalacat voters.”
He continued, “They brought with them their
own culture, their own community life.”
 Aeta elders (L) Merly Bautista, 63, and
Merly Bautista, 60, reminisce the days
when they were little girls growing up in
the foothills of Mount Pinatubo.
Photo by Terence Gonzalves.
Keeping
the Aeta
culture
alive
By Johnna Villaviray Giolagon
Aeta leader Rouvilane Margarito had
grown up under the shadow of Mount
Pinatubo.
As a young girl, she and her family lived
near the U.S. Clark Air Base in Pampanga
where she led a life like any modern
girl her age. But during weekends and
holidays, her father would take her up to
his parents’ village in the mountains and
deliver her to his mother to be taught the
old ways.
“Grandmother made sure we knew the
old way of doing things, the old beliefs,
how to cook food the way our people did
it,” recalled Margarito of those visits to
her grandmother who still lives in the old
community.
While in the old Aeta village, Margarito
experienced to have her head traced
by the blunt side of a machete as a
protection from lightning during storms.
When she gets up from the banana leaf
where she’s been napping, grandmother
shakes her awake to be certain her
soul does not stay asleep. And when
Margarito goes back to her home in the
lowlands, grandmother makes sure to call
out her name while sending the girl home
21
to make sure no part of her being is left
behind.
“My grandmother used to slaughter a
(pig or cow) monthly and then share
it with the village,” she said during a
short conversation in the middle of an
exposition showcasing traditional Aeta
products.
“That’s how they were. They shared with
the community freely.”
Merly Bautista, 63 years old, recalled
that those who lived inside the former
U.S. military base (now Philippine Air
Force base) did not want for work.
“You just show up and, if you are kulot,
you get a job even if you don’t have an
education,” she said, referring to the
Aeta’s curly hair that distinguished them
from other lowlanders.
The lowlanders were referred to as unat,
referring to their straight hair, she said.
In the past, being kulot automatically
gave them special treatment in the base.
But then Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991,
forcing the Aetas of Mabalacat, Porac in
Pampanga, and in Zambales, and Tarlac
provinces to evacuate their mountainside
villages. And, with the lahar or mudflow
continuing to devour lands years after
the volcano went back to sleep, they
remained displaced.
As then chieftain, he would be fetched
from his home and brought to Clark on a
helicopter so he could give jungle survival
training to American soldiers. Laxamana
is also a decorated World War 2 hero.

(The U.S. government closed Clark Air
Base after it was buried in volcanic ash
from Mount Pinatubo’s eruption).
A whole generation of Aetas were born
and forced to grow up in evacuation
As the indigenous people’s representative
to the provincial government, Margarito is
spearheading a movement to remind the
younger generations of Aetas about their
rich and proud culture.
An Aeta girl tends to her
store in the Aeta Village,
a bazaar of Aeta products
inside Subic. The bazaar is
part of the local government’s
efforts to promote the Aeta
culture.

centers in the lowlands. They were
exposed to none of the benevolence of
Mount Pinatubo’s fertile lands. They and
their families knew only of squalid living
conditions, hunger, and uncertainty.
Some of them had to resort to begging.
In droves, Aeta families would shuttle
to urban centers – Metro Manila in
particular – during the Christmas
holidays to beg for alms. This has given
lowland communities unfamiliar with the
Aeta culture the impression that begging
is all that Aetas know.
“But not all Aetas are beggars,” said
Rufina Sanchez, another community elder
and one of the original settlers in the
foothills of Mount Pinatubo. “Me, I would
never beg. At my age, I work for what
I have. I would never beg especially for
food,” she emphasized.
“Those beggars are from another tribe.
Not ours,” she continued. “We’ve always
been in the business of selling souvenirs
or working at the US base.”
In 2017, they started a month-long Photo by Terence Gonzalves.
festival showcasing the Aeta culture –
traditional fashion, dances, and even
games.
“Did you know we have our own version
of basketball? But instead of the hoop
being just there, the hoop is a basket
carried by one of the players and you try
to shoot,” Margarito said.
She said that in reviving the culture, she
hopes that the younger generations of
Aetas, even if they get their hair rebonded
as is widely popular, will remain kulot in
their hearts.
Aetas have been allowed
to return to and live on the
slopes of Pinatubo.
Photo by Terence Gonsalves.

Theirs was a proud Aeta race wherein

tributes – what lowlanders wrongly
interpret as payment – are expected for
the performance of traditional songs and
dances or even just for the privilege of
having their photograph taken.

In fact, Margarito’s grandfather Kudiaro

Laxamana was held in such high esteem
by the Americans that they built a
monument for him inside the base.

22
Threat lessened
but danger lurks
Pinatubo has gone back asleep since then.
In 1995, a 56-kilometer U-shaped mega
dike costing P2.7 billion was built as a
catch basin for the Pasig-Potrero River,
which has become the main avenue for the
lahars.
The rich supply of sand from Pinatubo’s
slopes could last at least another 30 years,
said Art Punsalan, chief of Pampanga’s
environment office.
He acknowledged that the riverbeds are
not as silted as before, and they need
heavy rains to wash down these deposits
downstream.

The mega dike, however, claimed more
victims when a section of the dike
collapsed, drowning three towns and
resulting in a loss of P38.9 million for the
government.
The last bad lahar flow was in 1998 but
overall, residual threats from the last
eruption are low.
This is not the case outside Pampanga,
however.
“In Zambales, you still have a lot of rivers
in the upper portion filled up with ash or
lahar,” Solidum noted. “So there is still
potential for lahar occurrences if in case
there is extreme rainfall in the Pinatubo
area.”

But neither Pinatubo nor her immediate “The threat has been lessened, but it’s still
environs had gone back to their state pre- there.”
eruption.

“The landscape that we Kapampangans

were familiar with for the last 300 years of
our existence was disturbed and changed
forever. Only to realize that this has been
a cycle throughout the eons and years of
history and prehistory,” explained Holy
Angel University’s Tantingco.

Studies undertaken immediately prior

to the eruption showed that Pinatubo,
in previous eruptions, dumped enough
pyroclastic material to completely change
the face of the land.

Remnants of prehistoric eruptions are

evident in what is known as Porac sand
- fine sand popular in the construction
industry and found abundantly and
quarried openly along Pampanga’s
riverbeds.
A truck hauls so-called Pinatubo sand from the riverbed
of the Sto. Tomas River in Bataan. Pinatubo sand is very
Quarry operations contribute as much popular in the construction industry because of its fine
quality.
as P40 million daily to the province’s
Photo by Terence Gonzalves
earnings and employing thousands of
locals.

23
24
Ormoc
Flood

25
Rising but
remembering
– Ormoc
28 years
after the
deadly flood
By Cooper Resabal

ORMOC CITY- At dusk, children of varied ages play on a

promenade-like embankment for flood control along Anilao
River, oblivious to the tragedy that befell residents here
some 28 years ago.

There is a reminder though of what happened on Nov. 5,

1991 that claimed more than 6,000 lives. At the Ormoc City
public cemetery where some 4,900 victims of the flash
flood were buried in a mass grave, there’s a monument
depicting a soul lifting its hands to an angelic figure whose
wings are shaped like trees.

An angel statue stands at the

mass burial site of the victims
of the 1991 flash flood.

Photo by Liza Macalandag

26
On a stone wall, words in gold on black
granite say, “In loving memory…of our
brothers and sisters who perished during
the November 5, 1991 flash flood, whose
lives have been lost by the dreadful wrath
of nature; a painful event, but a crucial
reminder of our obligations in the care of the
environment. For when nature is disturbed,
it strikes back in fury and spares no one.”
Some survivors are still haunted by images
of that fateful day when a rampaging
mix of mud, debris and logs swept their
houses, kin and neighbors to the Ormoc
sea. The deluge came after three days of
heavy rainfall brought by typhoon Uring
(international name: Thelma), which
caused massive flooding and landslides in
the Eastern Visayas region.
Robert Colo, a 35-year-old tricycle
driver who was seven years old then,
remembered the water reached up to his
neck, and the current was so strong he had
to be carried on someone else’s shoulders.
When the floodwaters subsided, Colo
saw bodies strewn in front of the church
and the current site of the plaza. He said
prisoners temporarily released to help in
the disaster threw bodies from the side of
the road to the trucks, to be brought to a
mass grave.
The little pathways in the villages were
filled with muddy water and people tied
themselves to ropes attached to posts
so they would not be swept away by the
current. Because their house was on higher
ground, near the high school site, Colo’s
family survived. Those on or beside the
river in Isla Verde village were “wiped
out, many swept to the sea unrecovered.”
Officials attributed the heavy death toll
to a combination of factors including the
unusually heavy rain and the presence of
informal settlers along the riverbanks.
City Planning and Development Office
head Raoul E. Cam said studies by the
Department of Environment and Natural
Resources revealed the intense rainfall
impounded water upland. With the soil’s
capacity to hold rainfall breached, water
rushed down, gathering debris and logs
along its path to Anilao and Malbasag
rivers.
Ciriaco Solibao III, head of the city’s
Disaster Risk Reduction Management
Office, also said the physical features of
Ormoc renders the place vulnerable to
flooding.
The Ormoc Ecological Profile 2015 says
that “the city core is approximately 5 to 8
meters above sea level and 855 m below
the peak of the watershed of the two major
river systems, Anilao and Malbasag, that
drain into the city center.” It is “like a
funnel where these two rivers converge,”
directly affecting six barangays.
“The risks and hazards due to flash floods
are further aggravated by the degradation
of the watershed area, and the presence of
settlements along the Anilao and Malbasag
Rivers and the Ormoc Bay, which serve
as the final discharge area of these two Children playing beside Anilao
River, unaware of the tragedy
rivers,” the ecological profile said. in that very same place 28
years ago.
These days, however, those traumatic Photo by Liza Macalandag
memories have somehow receded to the
background. There’s a pervading sense
of confidence that the effective flood
mitigating measures instituted by the
city government will ensure that the city,
bustling with life and commerce, would
not see a disaster of such magnitude again.
Now a first class, independent component
city not subject to regulation by the
Leyte provincial government, Ormoc has
been recognized for “catalyzing global
solutions to the climate crisis by making
urgent action a necessity across every
level of society.” It has a Local Climate
Change Action Plan (LCCAP 2016-2025)
formulated through the United States
Agency for International Development
(USAID) technical assistance.
27
Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez
recently received the Allen S. Quimpo
Climate Leadership for Governance
Memorial Award—“for advancing climate
action and promoting renewable energy.”
He also committed not to establish coal-
powered plants in the area.
Moreover, the city implements
environmental policies like “No Plastic
Day” on Wednesdays and an ordinance
requiring rainwater harvesting facilities
in new buildings. The city also co-hosts
the world’s second largest geothermal
steam field.
To top it all, Ormoc City has been
considered “richest” among seven cities
in the Eastern Visayas region based on
the 2017 Annual Financial Report for
the Local Government released by the
Department of Finance in November
2018.
With its P5.9 billon assets, Ormoc had
overtaken the P3 billion total assets of the
region’s administrative center Tacloban.
The city now hosts two malls which
opened in 2018—Robinson’s Place Ormoc
and SM Center Ormoc.
The city gripped by disaster in 1991 has
apparently bounced back. Its vision,
according to the city’s Comprehensive
Development Plan (2017-2023), is to
be the “agro-commercial and industrial
gateway in Eastern Visayas, and the
renewable energy capital of the Philippines
with a growth inclusive economy,
in a disaster resilient environment,
administered by an accountable local
government.”
In the light of apparently successful
moves made after the disaster —technical
mitigating structures on the rivers, the
watershed ecosystem, and overall disaster
preparedness — Vera Files revisited the
site. Local government officials shared
hard lessons learned.
Amid the devastation,
surviving Ormoc residents
washed clothes and other
belongings even as they
continued searching for
relatives and burying the dead.
AP Photo by Boy Cabrido.
28
The estimated 500 millimeters of rain that fell
over Ormoc watershed on Nov. 5, 1991 – or
167 millimeters per hour – was “far beyond
the absorptive capacity of the soils in the
watershed” whose cover that time was 60
percent newly plowed sugar cane fields, 25
percent cogon, and 15 percent corn or bare
sloping ground.sloping ground.”

A 1992 study by the Environment and automatically considered forest lands

Research Division of Manila Observatory
stated the mistakes of the past:
First, “the probability of flood occurrence”
in Ormoc’s (or any) lowland area is
governed largely by the condition of the
upland ecosystems. This makes it “a prime
necessity to restore the stability of these
ecosystems,” including ensuring forest
cover of watersheds, changing land use
patterns and control, and the manner of
cultivating slope areas.
The estimated 500 millimeters of rain
that fell over Ormoc watershed on Nov.
5, 1991 – or 167 millimeters per hour
-- was “far beyond the absorptive capacity
of the soils in the watershed” whose cover
that time was 60 percent newly plowed
sugar cane fields, 25 percent cogon, and 15
percent corn or bare sloping ground.
unsuitable for agricultural purposes.
Second, the hazard of flooding may
also be increased by conditions within
the lowlands. “Unless the stability of
the upland is complemented by proper
planning and management of the lowland,
the hazard of flooding will persist,” the
same report said.
In the case of Ormoc before the flooding,
urban development had changed the
drainage and channel patterns, but the
flood patterns were not fully taken into
account.
Moreover, “the reclaimed embankments
of the Anilao River and the floodplain,”
then the village of Isla Verde, “were both
hazardous” but were “allowed to be
densely populated” with informal settlers.

Large tracts of land with slopes greater

than 18 degrees were planted to
agricultural crops “even up to 600 meter
elevation,” the evaluation report noted.
Under government standards, lands
with slopes of 18 degrees or more are

29
 Ormoc flood
ORMOC CITY – In an emergency, drop
everything and run for your life.
Marilyn Hamito, a 46-year- old

survivors’
seamstress, learned precisely this when
floodwaters swallowed the riverside hut
she shared with her mother and siblings

lesson:
on Nov. 5, 1991 and drowned the rest of
the city.

Drop everything
Hamito was 18 then. Her family lived near
the wooden bridge crossing the Anilao
River where she bathed and washed

and run for

clothes.

On the day of the flood, she recalled that

her mother initially insisted on packing

your life the little valuables they had. But, when

a neighbor warned that the water had
already reached some barangays, her
mother instructed the children “to drop
By Cooper Resabal
everything and run up to higher ground
without looking back.”

“Dagan nga way lingi-lingi,” she told the

children in the local dialect.
Her two brothers, then 18 and 20 years
old, braved the muddy current and luckily
survived.

A neighbor who had an ice cream

business went back for her sewing
machine and piggy bank. She was swept
by the floodwaters out to sea.

For Hamito, the lesson is clear – in an

Ormoc flood survivor,
Marilyn Hamito, a
seamstress.
Photo by Cooper Resabal.
emergency situation, there is no choice
but to run for your life; leave everything
behind.

30
RUEL SICSIC
Ruel Sicsic, 46, lives in a hut atop the
embankment adjacent to the Anilao River.
From his home, Sicsic could still see the
spot where his family used to live by the
riverbed.
The Anilao River was only 4 meters wide
28 years ago. Today, that spot where his
house once stood is already underwater.
REYNALDO MANICOR
Reynaldo Manicor, 43, is also a flood
survivor. He sells drinking water in JICA
Lao relocation village.
To this day, Manicor is still bothered by the
thought that had they been less attached to
some material possession, more members
of their family would have survived the
flood.

Sicsic said they sought refuge in a
“bigger house” only to literally jump to
another one when its walls broke down
under the surge of water. He could have
been swept away had he not been able
to cling to the stair bannister and climb to
the upper floor.
Recalling that day, Sicsic said the
onrushing waters was like a bulldozer
ripping apart and hurling everything on its
way - houses, logs, vehicles, and people
out toward Ormoc Bay.
He related that they had vehicles at
their disposal. They could have packed
everyone and driven to safety immediately.
But because they tried to save their
valuables, the rampaging waters caught up
with them.
“We were already in the jeepney on our
way to evacuate. What happened was we
were met by the rushing flood waters. So,
when our vehicle got toppled down, we got
separated,” Manicor recalled.
He was rescued much later drifting in the
sea. “I was very weak. There were lots of
debris like wood which moved with the
waves and hit my body hard. I had lots of
scars from that,” he recalled.
“But I survived that, and I’m thankful to be
alive,” Manicor said, now firm in the belief
that he was saved to fulfill a mission in life.

His father also survived, but his mother

and siblings aged 12, 10, and 4 were not
lucky.

He shares the lesson that “Life is more

important than your valuables or your
appliances. You can always find ways to
acquire things again, but not the lives of
Survivor Reynaldo Manicor
believes there’s a reason
that he was saved and
that he still has to fulfill a
mission in life.

your loved ones.” Photo by Liza Macalandag.

31
NENITA ABLEN
Nenita Ablen, 53, lives in JICA Lao village
tending a sari-sari store, which is part of
relocation assistance given to survivors of
the Ormoc flood.

Her little girl was barely two months

old when the flood hit; thankfully, her
husband was able to save her and the
baby.

“My husband came back for me, swam

after me. I was lucky he was still able to
rescue me. My daughter, she was just
two months old during the flood. We even
thought that maybe she already died
because we were really drenched in the
water. “
Survivor Nenita Ablen
(center) with husband (left)
and child (right) who was
2-months old during the
floods.

Photo by Liza Macalandag.

“When we reached OSPA (the hospital), I
looked at the baby who had turned blue,
and I really thought that she had died.
But we were lucky. Look at her, she’s
all big and grown up now. We really are
survivors,” Ablen chuckled.

From that experience, Ablen learned that

she can’t have second thoughts about
saving loved ones even at the risk of
losing our own life. It might be the only
chance you get, she said.

Not everyone was able to get the chance

to save their loved ones, unfortunately.

Sicsic recalled having rescued a man

who was sobbing inconsolably because
his child and wife were washed away.
“You know what he did? He jumped back
into the water. He died,” he said.

Experiencing the deluge and fighting to

survive the raging waters was difficult,
but the survivors soon learned that
picking up the pieces left of their lives
demanded more endurance and strength.

32
Cause of the killer flood
Like many Ormocanons, Sicsic believes
that deforestation of the watershed was
the primary cause of the flood. “The
trees that were cut down, that was
one of the causes that aggravated the
flooding. Those mountains, that turned
white (because) the trees have been cut
down. And those debris from the logging
activities, they were washed down here,
and the logs were really the ones that hit
our homes.”
The 2015 Ormoc City Ecological Profile
indicates that the city environment in
1991 was aggravated by the degradation
of the watershed area and the presence
of settlements along the Anilao and
Malbasag Rivers, including Ormoc Bay
which serves as the final discharge area
of the two rivers.
Sicsic said Ormocanons are now “aware
about the ill effects of deforestation.”
Manicor took note of the measures the
local government undertook to prevent
occurrence of the disaster. “I think,
Ormoc is okay now. Our river is now very
wide. Not like before when it was full
of houses that were very close to each
other. Now, that’s no longer allowed,” he
said.
“And dikes have been built. If a similar
volume of water would come, we’d be
safe. The government has made sure of
that. The people now also understand
when they are told to evacuate from their
homes that are very near the river,” he
added.
There is no more effective teacher than a
personal encounter with disaster.
Children wading through Anilao
River unaware of the grim
happening in that site 28 years
ago.
Photo by Cooper Resabal.
33

Dead bodies are loaded onto a truck.
AP Photo by Boy Cabrido.
34
Taming nature’s wrath
after killer flood
Revisiting the day of the flash flood, there
is a sense that all the elements that could
make a disaster happen happened that day.
In the morning of Nov. 5, 1991, Typhoon
Uring (international name:Thelma)
dumped heavy rains as it moved slowly
over Leyte, including the Ormoc
watershed. The intense rainfall, which had
been going on for several days, triggered
a massive volume of water to rampage
downstream with debris and land
sediments.
The flood lasted just over three hours
and inundated a square kilometer of
commercial and residential areas of
Ormoc City proper.
Floodwater surfaces rose by seven feet in
15 minutes just before noontime, witnesses
said. An estimated 22,835,000 cubic meters
of water flooded the city.
“The sedimentation that took place
doubled the volume of fluid that flooded
Ormoc,” according to the Manila
Observatory Research.
Eleuterio Lugas — a 61-year-old broom
maker who was a resident of Biliboy village
near the current site of the Anilao slit dam —
recalled there was heavy rain with little wind
for three days. Then the skies darkened and
heavier rain pounded the city.
At first he was happy to gather some
coconuts that floated with the onrush
of water in the river, but the water rose
so quickly that he had to run to higher
ground. A neighbor and her 11-year-old
daughter got swept by the flash flood.
When he walked through the river on
his way to Barangay Alegria after the
flooding, at first he thought he was
stepping on banana stalks, but they turned
out to be bodies of children and adults
buried in the muddy silt and debris.
Today, his house made of bamboo
overlooks the Anilao slit dam, one of the
flood mitigating structures built with the
Japanese government’s assistance. He feels
confident that if a similar flood comes, the
slit dam will stop the debris, logs and silt.
His son-in-law Avelino Aguirre, who
worked in the Japan International
Cooperation Agency project, said the slit
dam structure is made of thick steel with
cement poured inside.
Effective flood
mitigation measures
The Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), through a grant, built four
bridges and three slit dams between 1997
and 2001 to mitigate floods and landslides
in Ormoc.
It likewise facilitated the widening of the
city’s main rivers of Anilao and Malbasag,
and the relocation of residents from the
riverbanks.
Milany L. Bernal of the City Engineer’s
Office, explained that JICA’s flood
mitigation project widened the Anilao and
Malbasag Rivers after a measurement of the
water volume, flow and pressure found that
these were major factors in the flooding.
There are “hydraulic drops” to make the
water flow gradually and three slit dams
(Anilao, Biliboy and Malbasag) to stop or
control the debris and logs carried by the
rampaging waters, Bernal explained.
The effectiveness of the JICA structures,
she said, were tested during typhoon Gilas
in 2003, and typhoon Yolanda in 2013.
She noted, however, that there are
problems of “encroachment” near the dam
structures despite a fence placed there by
the City Engineer’s Office.
The JICA Committee includes the Mayor’s
Office, the Department of Public Works
and Highways and the City Engineer’s
Office whose task is to maintain and
Eleuterio Lugas, 61, broommaker,
remembers stepping on bodies which
he mistook for banana stalks on the
Anilao riverbed after the flash flood.
Photo by Liza Macalandag
35
monitor the flood mitigation facilities:
the three slit dams, the hydraulic drops
and the three bridges, said Yvonne de
los Santos, also from the City Engineer’s
Office.
Part of their task, Bernal said, is to control
vegetation on the river, clean canals and
river channels, and ensure there are no
“encroachers” near the structures.
Both Bernal and de los Santos said the
flood control measures succeeded in
preventing a flash flood when Typhoon
Gilas came in 2003, bringing the same
volume and level of water as Typhoon
Uring did in 1991.
“The volume of water became manageable
with the widened rivers, and the debris got
stopped from being swept by the silt and
water,” de los Santos noted.
City Planning and Development Office
head Raoul E. Cam said his office intends
to transform the riverbanks into urban
green spaces that people can enjoy as a
park. He said he will push for barangays
to be involved in the monitoring and
maintenance of the flood mitigating
structures.
Recovering forest in watershed
Early morning in mid-March, some 150
student volunteers from Ormoc Senior
City High School hiked to Sitio Quarry to
plant seedlings of local tree species on a
steep watershed area there.
They were guided by some teachers and
forest guard Anthony Dionaldo to ensure
the seedlings are planted on critical parts
of the watershed.
One of the tasks of the city’s Environment
and Natural Resources Office (ENRO)
is to ensure the recovery of the forest
in Ormoc’s watershed, like the one in
Milagro, in a step-by-step process, ENRO
head Rafael Dumalan told Vera Files.
While there is P5 million allotted for

reforestation, he clarified that there is no
big project for planting trees. He said they
cater to people who belong to organized
groups like students in schools, non-
government organizations and private
entities.
At the time of the flash flood in 1991, of the
total land area of the Ormoc watershed, only
“3.3 percent was classified as timberland—
confined to the peaks,” a 1992 study of the
Environment and Research Division of
Manila Observatory said.
The same study noted that “even the
residual forest was absent.” At that time,
96.7 percent of Ormoc watershed was
classified as alienable and disposable land,
open for private acquisition.
There were more than 700 lot claimants
within the watershed, cadastral records
show, but “land ownership was held and
controlled by just a few big families.”
Dumalan emphasized the need to plant
the appropriate endemic tree species, like
bitangkol, lawaan and talisay in watershed
areas for the recovery of denuded forests
in Ormoc. His office supports a seedling
The slit dam at Biliboy, one of
the flood mitigating structures
built with the Japanese
government’s assistance.
Photo by Liza Macalandag
nursery in Milagro village and partners
with teachers and students, as well as
those under the government’s drug
rehabilitation program.
Since 1991, he said municipal government
units have facilitated the planting of trees
in their watershed areas. His next project
involves riparian vegetation, like planting
mangroves and bamboos beside rivers.
The idea, he said, is to save the rivers,
to make them flow naturally, and
continuously ensure the river is not
blocked by informal settlers as what
happened in 1991.
Forest guard Dionaldo said he and three
Rafael Dumalan, head of
colleagues work in sitio Quarry watershed, Ormoc city’s Environment
and part of their job is to maintain the and Natural Resources Office.
Photo by Liza Macalandag
reforested areas, water the seedlings if
necessary, and report encroachers and tree
cutters.
Mark Gerald Talle, 17, a grade 10 student
who planted a talisay seedling, said he sees
the value of planting trees in the watershed
for the future.
The activity is part of requirement for
36

graduating students, teacher Jemo de Asis
said. The first batch of student volunteers
numbered 300, she added.
The reforestation efforts include
awareness campaigns on the importance
of protecting the ecosystem, given the
undeniable changing climate pattern,
Dumalan said.
Many believe the denudation of the forest
on the watershed hastened the flooding in
1991 since deep root anchors were absent
to hold the water flow.
There is no doubt that the Anilao-
Malbasag watershed was the major
drainage basin that directly influenced
the flooding of the city. The watershed
is drained mainly by the Anilao and
Malbasag Rivers.
Protecting the
watershed ecosystem
DENR Eastern Visayas Regional Executive
Director Crizaldy Barcelo, in a statement
released on International Day of Forest,
underscored the importance of raising
awareness on how sustainably managed
forests contribute to the environment.
“Forests secure our soil and water
resources, mitigate climate change, and
provide habitat for animals and livelihood
for human. Its importance cannot be
underestimated,” Barcelo stressed.
To intensify the effort, DENR is also
implementing a biodiversity protection
system using advanced technology called
the LAWIN Protection System. Using a
mobile application called cybertracker,
users and patrollers from the DENR
report real-time environmental abuses
from the site.
Making proactive moves in disaster
preparedness
Ciriaco Solibao III, the head of the city’s
Disaster Risk Reduction Management
Office, said his office had been organizing
the barangays to be prepared for disasters,
including leading information and
education drives on disaster management
for 42 most flood-prone villages.
He said his plans include strengthening the
early warning and weather monitoring
systems, as well as installing a water level
system.
37
A young boy holds a seedling
during a tree planting activity
that will help ensure that the
tragedy that happened in 1991
will not happen again.
Photo by Liza Macalandag
The focus of Ormoc’s disaster management
office is not so much evacuations, but
preemptive action. The rule is to be “pro-
active, not just reactive,” Solibao added.
Barangay covered courts are targeted as
primary evacuation centers, while schools
are last priority, he said. Barangays are
encouraged to have two-story halls, and
covered courts must be equipped with
toilets, bathrooms and cooking areas.
Solibao’s office is also identifying people
who may be ready to receive evacuees.
At the 25th commemoration of the
Ormoc flood disaster, JICA Chief
Representative Susumu Ito observed
that Ormoc’s experiences in disaster
risk reduction management “show that
we can get things done together by
raising our understanding of disasters,
harnessing available resources,
and strengthening community
preparedness.”
Marcopper
Mining
Spill

38
39
Abandoned Building: A run-
down office building inside
the Marcopper mining area,

The Marcopper
abandoned in 1997, after Placer
Dome, Inc. left the Philippines
following the mine spill.

mine spill
Photo by Erik de Castro.

and the unending

wait for justice
By Nikko Dizon

BOAC, Marinduque—The people of this island province

have endured the brunt of the worst mining disaster in the
country, but the bigger heartbreak in their two-decade long
quest for justice might just be the wait for redress that is
not sure to come.

There is nothing more tragic than to hear stories

repeatedly told, but nothing done. It’s been 23 years since
March 24, 1996, when a badly sealed drainage tunnel in
Marcopper Mining Corporation’s Taipan pit burst, spilling
1.6 million cubic meters of toxic mine tailings that choked
Boac River, flooded villages and killed marine life.
Boac River dusk: The Boac
River, declared biologically
dead after the Marcopper mine
spill looks serene at dusk. A
dike had been built to prevent it
from overflowing where there
are heavy rains.

Photo by Erik de Castro.

40
One village, Barangay Hinapulan, was
buried in six feet of muddy floodwater,
displacing 400 families. Cows, pigs and
sheep including pets were poisoned and
died. Crops were destroyed. Boac River,
a source of sustenance for surrounding
communities, was declared unsafe.
Three years before that, the company’s
Maguila-guila siltation dam also burst,
flooding the town of Mogpog, where two
children drowned in the mine waste.
Soon after the mining disaster, the United
Representative Lord Allan Jay Velasco,
together with engineers and geologists
of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources and Mines and
Geosciences Bureau’s (MGB) regional
office.
The team discovered a leak in the Upper
Makulapnit Dam and heavy siltation in
the Maguila-guila spillway tunnel. That Conveyor Belt: Trees now
swallow the collapsed copper
prompted Velasco to ask the MGB to belt conveyor that leads to the
primary crushing area.
regularly inspect structures within the
Marcopper site, a task that’s not easy Photo by Erik de Castro.

States Geological Survey said in a study
that the Makulapnit and Maguila-guila
siltation dams were in danger of collapsing.
In 2001, Canadian research firm Klohn
Crippen – hired by Marcopper’s Canadian
mother company Placer Dome Inc. as
consultant – issued a similar warning.
“They are a clear and present danger
to us,” said Joven Lilles of the dams.
Lilles is the provincial government’s
environmental management specialist
and is part of the province’s disaster
management council.
Catherine Coumans, research and Asia-
Pacific program coordinator of Mining
Watch Canada, told VERA Files in an
email that a lot of mine waste remains
at the mine site. Marcopper started
operations in Marinduque in 1969.
“The acute danger is being swept away
by the waste and drowning in it,” said
Coumans, who had lived on the island for
two years before the 1996 mine spill.
“The longer-term harm is from the toxicity
of the waste,” Coumans said of the highly
acidic and metal laden tailings. “It is
extremely environmentally toxic and can
destroy productive ecosystems that people
rely on.”
The last known inspection of the
Marcopper property was done on Jan.
23, 2017 by the office of Marinduque
because the area is off-limits. But the
MGB and provincial officials, managed to
find ways to get information.
The Velasco briefing paper listed among
MGB’s concerns:
• “possible seepage” from the Tapian
Pit observed at the Lower Makulapnit
Dam.
• monitored seepage in Hinapulan
Creek from the plug installed after
the 1996 mine spill. “The bright blue
discoloration can be attributed to the
presence of heavy metal, particularly
copper, in the water.”
The Makulapnit Bypass Tunnel was
described as a “problematic MMC
structure.” Fresh water was leaking from a
busted pipe and a buildup of water inside
the tunnel “might lead to an eventual
flooding of downstream communities
along Boac River.”
But what “needs the most immediate
attention,” the MGB team said, is the
Maguila-guila siltation dam as also
pointed out by the USGS and Khlon
Crippen reports 20 years ago.
“Since the water flowing through the
spillway has no viable exit point due to the
siltation clog, there is a possibility that the
water pressure will build up and force its
way out through the existing structures,
causing damage to the latter,” the briefing
paper said.
After its last visit to the MMC premises,
the MGB team found out water has
decreased to ground level. “However,
there is still an increased amount
of siltation inside the facility which
may clog the hole of the down-drain
tunnel,” the briefing paper added.
In 1990, residents of Mogpog town,
comprised of 13 villages, had opposed
the building of the Maguila-guila
dam, but Marcopper was allowed to
construct it the next year. The dam
was needed as another repository for
the San Antonio pit’s waste which the
Tapian pit would not be able to hold.
Marcopper denied responsibility
when the Maguila-guila dam burst
in 1993. Mining officials blamed
an unusual rainfall brought by a
typhoon. But the Velasco paper noted
that when the dam was rebuilt, “an
overflow was added for the first time,
in an implicit acknowledgment of
faulty engineering.”

41

Tapian primary crusher:
This used to be Marcopper’s
busy primary crusher chute,
where trucks dumped the
ore to start the process of
extracting copper.
Photo by Erik de Castro.
Repairing dams, tricky ownership
issues
MGB regional director Roland de Jesus
said his office plans to secure the dams and
waterways near the mining site. However,
the safety features, estimated to cost
some P25 million, will be built outside the
Marcopper property because “legalities”
prevent even government officials from
entering the site.
De Jesus said P5 million has been
earmarked for the safety measures’ design.
With no project bidder, the MGB initiated a
negotiated one “to start the ball rolling.”
“There’s a continuous monitoring being
done in the area. There’s sufficient time to
install the prevention design,” De Jesus said.
But who is really responsible for the dams’
repair?
“This question is critically important,”
Coumans said.
It leads to the complicated and tricky
ownership of the Marcopper mining site,
the structures inside it, and everything left
behind by MMC and Placer Dome, Inc.,
and Placer Dome Technical Services Inc., a
subsidiary set up by Placer Dome in 1997 to
clean up the mine spill.
Placer Dome, Inc. owned 40 percent of
Marcopper shares but divested from it a
year after the mine spill. Five years later,
it closed its Philippine office. In 2006, the
42
Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation,
the world’s largest gold mining company,
acquired Placer Dome, Inc.’s remaining
common shares.
Coumans said Placer Dome divested to F
Holdings, known as the Bernardino Group,
“through its wholly-owned Cayman Islands
subsidiary—MR Holdings.”
The Supreme Court, in a 2012 ruling,
described MR Holdings, Ltd. as “a non-
resident foreign corporation, organized and
existing under the laws of Cayman Island.”
“It is a subsidiary corporation of Placer
Dome, Inc. (Placer Dome), a foreign
corporation which owns 40% of respondent
Marcopper Mining Corporation,” it said.
Coumans said she would have been
unaware that MR Holdings was exercising
ownership over the Marcopper property
“if not for the lawsuit by the Solid Bank
to recover money it had lent Marcopper
before the Boac Spill.”
She said MR Holdings, possibly still the
legal owner of assets and mineral rights at
the site, has not maintained the area and
neither has F Holdings.
“Unless Marinduqueños find a way to
hold MR Holdings’ parent company,
now presumably Barrick Gold, to
account, the state will likely have to step
in to maintain the mine structures in
order to protect Marinduqueños,” she
added.
Ghost town
More often than not, it is difficult to
enter Marcopper’s abandoned mine site.
Provincial officers like Lilles had been
denied entry several times. Even then
Environment Secretary Gina Lopez was
said to not have been allowed to inspect
the area.
But there was no guard in sight when
VERA Files went there one afternoon in
February. The guide surmised the guards
may have skipped work that day.

The area looked like a ghost town. The

power lines had collapsed, the wires a
tangled mess on the ground. The doors
of a warehouse, a backhoe, a couple of
vehicles, even the crushing machinery
were decaying and rusty. “MR Holdings”
was painted on the primary crusher.

In its heyday, the Marcopper site was like

a “city within the forest” with first class
apartments and amenities, including a golf
course, the guide said. No trace of that
upscale community remains.
Mine tailings: Mine tailings
remain in the Tapian pit, where
the spill originated on March
24, 1996 and caused one of the
worst environment disaster in
the Philippines.
Photo by Erik de Castro.

From a hill, Tapian and San Antonio pits

looked like serene lakes surrounded by
lush trees.

But Coumans cautioned that the bluish

green water is highly toxic. “The pit water
will be acidic and the strange color in the
shallower areas is metal leaching, likely
copper sulphate,” she said.

Heavily silted with mine tailings, Boac

and Mogpog Rivers are both considered
biologically dead. Lilles said no carabao
drinks water from Mogpog river because
of its high acidity. Even the coconut trees
along Mogpog river have been slowly
poisoned, dying one by one.

Boac river is less acidic because of the mix

of “mineral and criminal water” that it gets
from two different tributaries.
“The mineral, or clean, water comes
from its upper tributaries in the villages
of Canat, Bayote, and Tambunan. The
criminal water is from Upper Hinapulan
and Makulapnit, and the Bol river, all of
which have been contaminated by the
mine tailings,” Lilles said.

43

Marinduque
rises as
a summer
hot spot
By Nikko Dizon
BOAC, Marinduque— The hike around
a tiny part of the nearly 9,000-hectare
Marinduque Wildlife Sanctuary is
not easy, especially if you’re forty-
something and lack exercise. But Mother
Nature will reward you for your effort.
You’ll see a beautiful canopy of leaves
if you look up the sky while sitting on a
tree trunk as you catch your breath and
rest your knees. You’ll hear birds singing
and wish this was the symphony in the
44
concrete jungle you live in instead of the
roar of buses and jeepneys.
It’s hard to believe that a nature’s paradise
exists in place which many associate with
poisoned land and waters because of a
mining disaster in March 1996.
It was made possible by the 2004
Presidential Proclamation No. 696 which
declared the portion of land straddling the
municipalities of Boac, Gasan, Buenavista,
Torrijos and Sta. Cruz a protected area. It
is now known as the “Marinduque Wildlife
Sanctuary”.
Among the wildlife in the Sanctuary are
the Philippine duck, the green racket tail,
the Philippine deer, the cloud rat, the
Philippine warty pig, and several bird
species like the purple-throated sunbird,
Philippine scops owl, brahminy kite,
serpent eagle, and zebra dove.
Trees in the forest include molave, yakal,
narra, bagtikan, dao, mayapis, ipil, and
bagtikan to keep you cool.
Farther up the wildlife sanctuary are
homes of a handful of families who have
lived there even before the area was
declared protected. Their community is
called Sitio Isla.
Mostly farmers, they live quiet and simple
lives among nature. When they want to
connect to the modern world, each house
has a satellite dish providing 24 channels
for a monthly subscription of P120. They
can get National Geographic, Discovery
Channel, CNN, and local movies.
The provincial government developed the
area into a tourist spot little by little, careful
not to disturb and exploit the rare species
living here.
In developing the province into a tourism
destination, the government had to deal
with the stigma of one of the worse mining
disasters in the country. But there is much
on the island that remains unspoiled.
“I hope they’ll start to think of Marinduque
as a tourist destination where they will
see the Moriones festival, this wildlife
sanctuary, and many other really nice
places, and not just the mine spill,” said
Joven Lilles, the provincial supervising
environmental management specialist and
a bird watcher who has documented a
number of fauna in the sanctuary.
At 61, Lilles has been with the provincial
government for over two decades. He was
among the first on the ground when mine
tailings seeped from the damaged Tapian
pit of the Marcopper Mining Corporation
and made its way into the Boac River.
Lilles still remembers the stench of the
chemicals.
Twenty-three years later, justice remains
elusive for Marinduque’s people and
environment as Marcopper and its
executives continue to evade responsibility
for the mine spill.
But the frustration has not kept Lilles and
his provincial government colleagues from
working hard to sustain Marinduque’s
environmental gems while developing the
province’s tourism industry.
“Being an island, Marinduque was able
to preserve the endemicity of the species
found here,” Lilles said.
Cave assessments, he said, have recently
been completed by biologists and a team
from the provincial environment and
tourism offices.
Lilles said that his team also accompanied
the team of Phillip Aviola, the curator
of the Museum of Natural History of
the University of the Philippines Los
Baños. Their cave explorations led to the
discovery of a new kind of frog and an
insect bat.
While some of the caves have been
recommended for ecotourism, others
remain closed for conservation because
they have become habitat of rare species,
such as the cave-dwelling fresh water
shrimp, he said.
Tourist arrivals in Marinduque— an
estimated 952- square- kilometer heart-
shaped island—has been steadily climbing
since 2009 with nearly 83,000 travelers
visiting the province in 2015. (The figures,
however, are lower from 2016 to 2018
after the Department of Tourism began
counting only the number of tourists who
checked into hotels and not those who
stayed with family and friends.)
To get to the island, you take the two -to
-four-hour RoRo (depends on the size and
45
speed of your ship) from Dalahican Port
in Lucena, Quezon to Balanacan Port in
Mogpog, Marinduque.
Travel bloggers have been smitten by the
province’s rustic charms and affordable
adventures—from caving, biking, taking a
dip in the hot springs and beaches, scuba
diving, and trekking. The centuries-old
houses and churches, like the Immaculate
Conception Cathedral of Boac, are also
tourist attractions.
The high-end resort, Bellaroca, whose
original owner was Elizabeth Marcos-
Keon, sister of the former President
Marcos, was popular among the perfumed
set but it had to close a few years ago
after the only airline that flew in clients
canceled its flights to Marinduque. There’s
now talk that flights would resume, and
some hope Bellaroca could reopen.
The Moriones Festival during the Holy
Week remains the province’s top crowd
drawer. The other two are the “putong/
tubong”, where visitors are crowned and
welcomed in an elaborate ceremony, and
the other is the “kalutang”, the wooden
percussion instruments made from
twatingan and bayog trees that can only be
found in Marinduque.
There’s more in Marinduque than what
we know.
Logatoc: The Mogpog
river was an important A tragedy that continues
part in the life of Bocboc
village chief Racquel in people’s veins
Logatoc, 53. Doctors
have detected a very Heavy metal runs through Racquel
high metal content in her
body.
Logatoc’s veins. The 52-year-old village
chief of Bocboc, Marinduque suffers from
Photo by Erik de Castro.
skin irritation, fatigue and body pains.
Tests done in 2013 and 2017 detected
the harmful substance in her blood. In
February, she was back at the Batangas
Medical Center for further monitoring.
Logatoc is not alone. Like her, adults and
children in Mogpog, Boac, and Sta. Cruz
towns of Marinduque, still live with the
effects of the disaster that happened 23
years ago.
On March 24, 1996, a fracture in the
drainage tunnel of Marcopper Mining
Corporation’s Tapian pit spilled more
than 1.6 million cubic meters of toxic mine
tailings, flooding villages and poisoning the
Boac River.
Three years before that, the company’s
Maguila-guila siltation dam also burst,
flooding the town of Mogpog, where two
children drowned in the mine waste. It was
a tragedy overshadowed by the Tapian
pit mine spill but the mine waste from
Maguila-guila was just as toxic that it was
an environmental disaster on its own,
primarily killing the Mogpog river.
“We used to swim in the river, wash our
clothes there, and we even caught shrimps
and fishes. The river was wide, and the
water was clear and clean,” Logatoc said,
sadly looking at what was left of the river.
But even decades before the 1996 mine spill,
46
Marinduque residents have been living
amid toxic elements from the mine.
Marcopper Mining Corp. began its mining
operations in the Mount Tapian ore deposit
in 1969.
It was the first to use open pit mining
in copper concentrate production,
according to a briefing paper prepared by
Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Jay
Velasco.
“Without a proper method of waste
disposal, the mine tailings or the waste from
Mount Tapian site were discharged into the
Calancan Bay which covered around 8,000
hectares of fishing ground,” it said.
“From 1975 to 1991, the Marcopper-
operated mines dumped a total of 200
million tons of toxic tailings into the
shallow bay of Calancan,” the paper added.
After depleting Mount Tapian’s reserve,
Marcopper moved to the San Antonio
copper mine, three kilometers north of the
Mount Tapian site.
Marcopper claimed the mine tailings that
seeped out of the Tapian pit were nontoxic.
But Joven Lilles, the province’s environment
specialist and one of the first provincial
employees to rush to the site when the
spillage happened, recalled the stench that
could only come from harmful chemicals.
Then and now, a number of residents
like Logatoc have suffered from various
ailments that doctors attribute to exposure
to their toxic environment.

Mogpog River: The
water that runs through
the Mogpog river has a
high acidity level that Doctors’ initiatives
not even carabaos drink Mogpog municipal health officer Edsel
from it.
Muhi, an epidemiologist, did a study in
Photo by Erik de Castro.
2011 under the Department of Health
(DOH) that established a baseline
reference for the level of heavy metals in
Mogpog, Boac, and Sta. Cruz, the three
towns most affected by Marcopper’s mine
wastes.
Six heavy metals were found
contaminating the environment and
which humans can ingest: lead, arsenic,
mercury, cadmium, copper; and chromium
or LAMCCC.
Muhi’s study focused on the
noncarcinogenic lead and the cancer-
causing arsenic. In 2011, Sta. Cruz
residents showed the highest arsenic and
lead contents in their blood. Calancan Bay,
where Marcopper dumped its mine wastes
for nearly 30 years of its operation, is in
Sta. Cruz.
Children with lead in their blood end up
with anemia. The metal also targets their
central nervous system. “Lead content can
also result in developmental delay and
congenital problems,” Muhi, a native of
Mogpog, said.
Marinduque provincial health officer,
Gerry Caballes, recalled how in 2016,
then DOH regional director Dr. Eduardo
Janairo, “revived the Marcopper issue
47
and declared Marinduque as a (health)
emergency.”
Janairo convened a regional interagency
committee for an environmental health
assessment in 2017. The provincial health
office, together with toxicologists from
the East Avenue Medical Center, tested
residents for heavy metal content. That
was when Bocboc village chief Logatoc
learned the heavy metal in her blood
system remains high and that she needed
regular monitoring.
In 2017, DOH Marinduque’s chief Rowena
Garcia did a study that put together a
database of residents living near the rivers
affected by the mine tailings.
Garcia also established the “telemedicine”
system where patients from Marinduque
can consult real time with doctors from
EAMC and the Batangas Medical Center
through a camera and TV.
Heavy metals irritate the skin, with most
patients complaining of itch as well as
dark spots and white patches on their legs
and feet, said Ash Semilla, a nurse at the
DOH-Marinduque health office.
Residents end up with skin diseases
because they cross the contaminated
rivers.
“That’s the only way they could go to work
and return home,” Semilla said. She sends
photos of patients’ legs and feet to doctors
in Manila or Batangas so they have a
background on patients’ cases.
With the telemedicine system, patients can
consult doctors, avail of laboratory tests
and get free medicines through the DOH,
the nurse added.

“Caballes expressed hope the provincial
government will continue to support
his proposed P20 million water testing
laboratory, after years of being told there is
no money for it. A regular monitoring of the
78 water sources in Marinduque was one of
Muhi’s recommendations in his 2011 study.”
48
No rehab for health, environment
Caballes expressed hope the provincial
government will continue to support
his proposed P20 million water testing
laboratory, after years of being told there
is no money for it. A regular monitoring
of the 78 water sources in Marinduque
was one of Muhi’s recommendations in his
2011 study.
The water testing lab project needs
a second bidding after the winning
contractor was disqualified, but Caballes
had been told the documents for the
laboratory “were missing.”
He said doctors will always have their
theories on why people get sick, but they
need scientific data to back these up.
Caballes wants to investigate if the
contaminated environment is linked to the
recently monitored clustering of children
with delayed development and a number
of residents dying of end-stage renal
failure.
He said the contaminated environment
that has not been rehabilitated remains
a threat to residents. Even just regularly
breathing air tainted with heavy metals
can harm one’s health, experts said.
Law professor Antonio La Viña, an
environment undersecretary when the
1996 mine spill happened, admitted the
national government at that time was too
focused on holding Marcopper accountable
that it failed to put together a “masterplan
to rehabilitate the environment and give
livelihood to the people.”
“We didn’t have a systematic approach
to really help the affected people in the
affected communities,” Caballes said. “We
shouldn’t just have made noise. We should
also have done something using whatever
resources we had then and now.”
At the very least, Marinduque has placed a
50-year moratorium on large- and small-
scale mining in the province.

.Boac River: A resident
tries to catch some fish
and shrimp from the Boac
River. Some marine life
has been seen lately but it
remains biologically dead.
Photo by Erik de Castro.
No money for rehab
Caballes and Lilles both pointed out
that the national and local governments
have said there was not enough money
to address the mine spill’s harm to the
environment and the people.
While the then Ramos administration
commissioned the U.S. Geological
Survey study, government was unable
to implement the USGS’ detailed
recommendations due to lack of funds,
Lilles said.
Catherine Coumans, research and
Asia-Pacific program coordinator of
Mining Watch Canada who had lived in
Marinduque before the mine spill, said
the worst environmental impact from
Marcopper’s mining comes from the mine
sites yet to be rehabilitated.
She said the San Antonio pit has been
filled up and overtopped with toxic
water. The remaining mine wastes of both
the San Antonio and Tapian mines are
“exposed and contained—in Calancan
Bay—where more than 200 million tons
of mine waste have destroyed reefs and
continue to erode off the causeway in an
ongoing slow spill into the ocean.”
“The Mogpog and Boac rivers remain
impacted by ongoing toxic inputs from the
mine site. These four ecosystems constitute
major harm to the small island province as
a whole,” Coumans said.
49
Twenty-three years and counting
In 2014, the Marinduque provincial
government had refused Barrick Gold’s
$20-million settlement offer not only
because it was not enough to compensate
for the environmental damage caused by
the Marcopper mine spill. The company,
which acquired the remaining common
shares of Placer Dome, also wanted the
government to waive its accountability
and responsibility for the disaster.
Four criminal cases, a civil case, and an
administrative case have been filed by
the government against Barrick Gold,
Marcopper Mining Corp., and Placer
Dome, Inc. and their officers since 1996.
The cases remain pending in court.
In 2015, a Nevada court ruled it had no
jurisdiction over the class suit filed by
the Marinduque provincial office against
Placer Dome.
Coumans said the court provided the best
possible conditions for the case to succeed
in Canada, including that Barrick accept
the jurisdiction of Canada and for the case
not to be sent elsewhere.
“I believe that Barrick Gold remains
legally responsible and can be held
to account in Canada if the people of
Marinduque choose to pursue that course
of action,” she said.
On the 23rd anniversary of the Marcopper
mine spill, MGB regional director Roland
de Jesus said the government will pursue
legal action and would stick to filing a case
using the Marcopper name, not the new
company name, MR Holdings.
Meanwhile, heavy metals continue their
poisonous track in the veins of villagers
like Logatoc and Marinduque’s future – its
children. (With contributions by Nancy
Carvajal.)
About VERA Files
VERA Files is a nonstock, nonprofit independent media organization registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Founded in March 2008, it is published by veteran Filipino journalists taking a deeper look into current Philippine issues. Vera is Latin
for true.

VERA Files was founded by journalists Ellen Tordesillas, Luz Rimban, Booma Cruz, Jennifer Santiago, Yvonne T. Chua and Chit
Estella (who passed away in a road crash on May 13, 2011). The current Board of Trustees consists of Ellen Tordesillas, President; Joel
Butuyan, Secretary; Booma Cruz, Treasurer; Chi Liquicia and Rosal Revaldo.

The organization’s chief purposes, as embodied in its articles of incorporation, are to:

(1) Engage in the research, writing, production and distribution of news and other media products and related services in multiple
formats, including but not limited to print broadcast and online, to advance excellence in journalism; and

(2) Provide a venue for the training of journalists, students and educators in the practice of excellent journalism.

VERA Files relies on grants, the proceeds from the sale of its stories, and donations and contributions from its trustees and supporters
to fund its operations. It screens donors and contributors carefully and does not accept funding that will compromise its independence
and non-partisanship.

In addition to its regular fare of in-depth reports and commentaries, VERA Files has over the years pursued several specialized
reporting projects supported by grants. One such grant is from Internews under its Earth Journalism Network program which aims to
improve the quality and quantity of environmental reporting worldwide.

Previous grants enabled VERA Files to look into, among others, election-related violence; elections in the Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao; extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances; and trafficking in persons. VERA Files also undertook
the multiyear Reporting on Persons with Disabilities project supported by The Asia Foundation and the Media Ownership Monitor:
Who Owns the Media in the Philippines by Reporters without Borders.

Its ongoing initiatives include the Road Safety Journalism Fellowship Program in partnership with the World Health Organization-
Philippines, the Road Safety Reporting Project with the Global Road Safety Partnership, both supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies;
and VERA Files Fact Check with the National Endowment for Democracy and a partnership agreement with Facebook.

VERA Files website: http://verafiles.org

Contact us at newsroom@verafiles.org.
VERA Files thanks the following:
Imelda V. Abaño, Asia Pacific coordinator of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network
Johnna Villaviray Giolagon
Nikko Dizon
Cooper Resabal
Zanneth Lago
Venessa Evangelista
Terence Gonzalves
Erik De Castro
Liza Macalandag
Nancy Carvajal
Chi Liquicia
Rosal Revaldo
Ellen Tordesillas

Design and Layout: Jake Ruiz

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