Your childhood may have been a lie: Mayon Volcano didn't bury Cagsawa Church

Contrary to what we learned as schoolkids, Albay's famous Cagsawa Church wasn't buried when Mayon Volcano erupted in 1814, asserts one Albayanon. And he has the photographs to prove it.

 

Albayanon novelist Abdon M. Balde, Jr. recently shared photos of Cagsawa church on his timeline, some supposedly dating as far back as 1928.

 

The photos clearly show the facade of Cagsawa Church still intact in the early 1900's, despite the widely-held notion that the structure had been buried under pyroclastic debris a century before.

 

 

Balde says that these photos, if authentic, are proof that the popular notion that Cagsawa church was buried during the 1814 eruption of Mayon volcano is completely false.

He argues that the church may have been destroyed, but it was not buried.

 

Facebook user Kurt Zepeda agreed with Balde, pointing out that eyewitness accounts on the 1814 eruption did not mention anything about the church being buried.

 

“The pictures of Cagsawa Church in the 1930s and the intact bell tower are incontrovertible proofs that the church was not buried during the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano,” Balde said.

 

Balde also points out that practical photography was only invented in 1827—well over a decade after Cagsawa Church was supposedly buried.

 

Furthermore, Balde notes that Cagsawa Church is over 10km away from Mayon's crater, far away from the volcano's 6km-diameter "danger zone."

 

"Lava never went beyond (the 6km danger zone) and pyroclastic materials also did not exceed (the zone) except in 1987, when (they) broke into Sto. Domingo," he said.

 

 

“Rather than persist in the myth of a buried church we should tell stories about the town and its people who rose from these ruins and taught us, Albayanos how to survive and prosper in the midst of a harsh environment,” Balde asserts.

 

According to Phivolcs, the "most destructive eruption" of Mayon on record was on February 1, 1814, when it erupted with “plinian, pyroclastic flows” and “volcanic lightning and lahar.” Some 1,200 casualties were reported, and Camalig, Cagsawa, Budiao, Guinobatan and half of Albay were damaged.? — TJD, GMA News