Lessons of the Cabalantian tragedy.

(From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Byline: Tonette Orejas

FOR SOME sentimental reasons, Benjamin Pineda timed the start of the construction of their house three days before the eighth anniversary of the Cabalantian tragedy when lahar, as high as seven meters, buried his village, Barangay Cabalantian, on Oct. 1, 1995.

Pineda, 50, skirted the matter of the timing. At Zone 1, the hardest hit because it was beside the creek where lahar overflowed after bursting the Gugu Dike, he stopped work to say: "Ang feeling namin masaya kami rito. Siyempre, iba ang lugar mo (We feel that we are happy here. It's really different if it's your place)."

Pineda and his wife, both employees of the Department of Education, said they borrowed loans from state-owned financing companies to be able to build a house on the same lot buried now under 25 feet of Mt. Pinatubo's lahar.

Like their neighbors, Pineda's son Ryan, 32, is helping out in the construction. Based on the thick plastic thread that Ryan tied on four iron rods, the Pinedas and their neighbors are putting together a six-meter by four-meter room.

"Kung hanggang saan abutin ng pera namin, dun lang (Wherever our money reaches, it's up to there)," the elder Pineda, a father of five, said of the plan.