By Nancy I. Mediavillo
LEGAZPI CITY, Feb. 1 (PNA) — Governor Joey Sarte Salceda said Saturday that Albay is on the right path towards development.
Salceda said his administration started with Albay Mabuhay, then Albay Rising and now, Albay Booming.
In this connection, he said, the provincial government has embarked on comprehensive programs and projects.
“We are now focusing on tourism and agriculture. Nobody must be left behind, all must be on board,” the provincial chief executive said during the opening today of the Cagsawa Festival, which he also dubbed as Cagsawa Dos Siglos, held at the Cagsawa Ruins in Daraga, Albay.
Cagsawa Dos Siglos, he said, commemorates the 200 years of Albayanos’ strength and resiliency amid challenges like calamities and their capacity to rise and continue living towards the development of the Albayano families and the province.
Salceda gave as example the grim reality that happened 200 years ago when Mayon Volcano erupted on Feb. 1, 1814 where thousands of Albayanos died.
“With this commemoration is our expression of thanks to our elders who lost their lives because of the tragedy. We owe to them what we are now,” he stressed.
The governor recalled the history of the Cagsawa Ruins, which was then the center of commerce during the Spanish time before it was buried by volcanic debris that came from Mayon when it erupted.
At the place, Salceda said, could be found the triangle of power — the church, casa real and the municipal hall.
He said the word Cagsawa came from an old man who then had a python in his care.
The governor said the Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office was not the first disaster management entity but the town of Daraga during the Spanish time because they established the Daraga Church in 1774, some 40 years earlier before the 1814 eruption of the volcano that buried it.
That time, of course, there was still no Philippine Institute of Volcanology, no Internet or any means of mass communication.
Salceda said the Cagsawa Ruins has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and if declared as such, it will join the five World Heritage Sites of UNESCO in the Philippines — Rice Terraces, Vigan Old Houses, Tubbataha Reef, Baroque Churches and Underground River of Palawan.
“This day is also a reminder of our commitment to disaster risk reduction as a way of life if we are to achieve our goals of development for all,” the economist governor said. (PNA)