Home of The Ashfall by John Jack Wigley of Pampanga (Analysis and Announcement of Winners for the Ac
Background of the Story:
June 15, 1991 , Mount Pinatubo located at Botolan, Zambales and 14 kilometers away from Clark Air Base erupted, sending a gigantic ash fall to the country and to neighboring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. They said the ashes even reached Russia, and covering the earth from the sun for almost 3 days.
About the Author
John Jack G. Wigley became deputy director of the UST Publishing House in June 2010, where he previously served as officer-in-charge and assistant to the director. He has co-authored two books on Philippine literature and presented papers on cultural and literary studies in national and international conferences and fora. He currently teaches literature and film at the College of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Letters at UST. He is also the author of Falling Into the Manhole: A Memoir (2012) He has an A.B. in English from Holy Angel University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature at the University of Santo Tomas (From John Jack Wigley's Goodread's Profile)
Summary:
The narrator (Wigley) tells what he had experienced during the Mt. Pinatubo Eruption in 1991. He was a manager at a food chain that time in Manila, and he was devastated to see in his own eyes what had happened to his beloved city of Angeles, in Pampanga. As he relayed, he never thought there is an active volcano near Pampanga.
What he saw during his returned was chaos: the only bridge that connects Angeles City from Dau, Mabalacat was destroyed, and people are forced to cross the sulfur-contaminated river of Abacan by foot.
He admired how his people's ingenuity unleashes even this time of catastrophe. Kapampangans help people to cross by carrying them in wooden chairs, creating an artificial bridges out of coconut trunks and even using gareta (a wagon pulled by carabao) for a cheap price of 1 peso to 10 pesos.
Upon crossing the bridge, he immediately went home and check his mother. seeing him alright, he was aghast to his mothers audacity to cross the river. At the end, he has nothing left but to obey and admired his mother.
Theme:
The essay shows the Filipino resiliency in times of catastrophe
Structure:
Narrative Essay
My Activity:
Create a mini-monument to honor the casualties and survivors of Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
