1990 earthquake memorial set at busol watershed

ELEMENTARY pupils and media practitioners will troop to Busol watershed July 16 for the annual earthquake memorial rites in honor of those who perished in the killer temblor 27 years ago today.

Students from San Vicente Elementary School and members of the print and broadcast under the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcaster Club (BCBC) along with members of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) chaired by Mayor Mauricio Domogan and action officer city administrator Carlos Canilao will plant more trees as living memorials for the earthquake victims under the EcoWalk program pioneered by the same groups in 1992.

The tree-planting activity comes side by side with the traditional pig offering and prayer ritual for deliverance from similar calamities led by a “mambunong” or native priest in keeping with the indigenous tradition of the Cordillerans.

The pupils and the media group had kept the memorial tradition with the city government for years now to nurture the living memorials for the victims which was broached in 1997 by the late newsman Jose Nicolas “Peppot” Ilagan in lieu of setting up a “cold, non-living marker.”

The pupils will plant their saplings in their muyong established in the same year as ecowalk was conceived while the BCBC members led by president Jane Cadalig will plant theirs in a secluded portion of the watershed assigned as memorial planting site.

BCBC past president Ramon Dacawi who founded the eco-walk will lead the lecture on the importance of trees and forests.

The annual earthquake memorial activity is part of the month-long line-up of activities for the celebration of the National Disaster Consciousness Month spearheaded by the CDDRM.

Other activities in the calendar are the blood-letting program last July 1, rescue olympics July 15, earthquake drill at City Hall on July 20 and trainings on standard first aid and basic life support on July 18-20 and 25-27.