"Mayon, the volcano that has destroyed the coast town of Libog, and several neighboring villages in the Philippines, has aroused itself after a slumber of twenty-eight years. The eruption has not come as a surprise to students of volcanoes, because although quiescent, it was known to be active. During the nineteenth century 26 eruptions occurred, with especially violent ones in 1814 and 1897. The Philippines boast a dozen volcanoes that are classified as active, but eruptions of most of them are rare. Mayon, and its neighbor, Taal, both of which are in South Luzon, are the most energetic of the lot, though no severe eruption of Taal has happened since 1754."
That was the description of a writer in the Science News-letter of Aug. 11, 1928. The name of the town of "Libog" has since been changed to Sto. Domingo but the fiery of Mayon has never diminished since then.
According to the writer, "When Mayon erupted in 1897, the circumstances must have been very similar to the present one (referring to the 1928 eruption. The writer said the one in 1897 "started without warning on June 23." With no machine or scientist standing by and with no media people queuing at Lignon Hill like last week, there was no way then for people to know about the impending catastrophe. As the writer puts it: "By the next day it began to excite alarm, and on the day after that began its work of destruction." This work of destruction came in the form of lava flowing "down the side and for seven miles to the east; volcanic ash was rained over the surrounding country for 100 miles to the east and 75 miles to the west."
The writer continues: "Finally, by June 30, the volcano was again quiet. The next eruption was in 1900, and since then it has been inactive." Take note that the next eruption, if we are to believe this documentation took place in 1900, three years after the last. This puts to rest the myth that Mayon erupts or becomes active every ten years. In fact, the 1928 article carries the title "Volcano Active After 28 Year Rest."
Then and now, Mayon always puts up a spectacular performance. But even in repose, Mayon in those years had a dark and dangerous charm of its own. Dr. Samuel Kneeland who had written much about Mayon recalls how "Sailing between Masbate and Ticao, at noon we reached Donzol (Donsol), in the province of Albay; leaving there at night on our way south around the point of the Camarine (sic) peninsula, we came in sight of the volcano of Mayon, whose glowing top looked like a lighthouse, twenty-five miles distant."
Strangely, that ember of a point was not always there. The 1928 article notes also how the inactivity of the volcano removed the fire from the mouth of the volcano: "Even the fiery glow which its vapors gave forth at night for centuries has been absent in recent years."
Throughout the activities of Mayon last December, the major TV networks were monotonous in using the word "nag-alburuto" personifying the volcano as an individual who was quirky and unreasonable.
The reporters missed out on the power of Mayon to inspire discourses in all domains and to attract all individuals because Mayon is really part of Nature, invasive and majestic perhaps, but still indicative of the workings of the Earth.
Don Jose Centenio y Garcia, Inspector-General of Mines issued Notes on the Earth quakes of Jaly, 1880, at Manila, in a work called " Memoria Geologico Minera de los Islas Filipinas. The report mentioned that the volcanic action in the Philippine Archipelago is not displayed in an arbitrary or irregular manner, butt, on the contrary, is exercised by defined lines almost parallel to each other, whose direction may be fixed as from N.N.W. to S.S.E., thus showing two parallel systems, which to distinguish from each other we will call the system of Taal, and that of Mayon, being the names of the two volcanoes of the greatest and most frequent activity in the two systems."
In these report, there were theories being developed about how volcanoes have something to do with earthquakes. The Taal System, for example, is described as having its system affect certain parts of Luzon going up north and the earthquake that affected the areas.
As Señor Centeno continues: The second system, "of Mayon," is situated to the eastward of the first, and is represented by the magnificent active volcano of Mayon of 8,000 feet altitude, and although parallel to the first [meaning "Taal"], does not extend farther to the north than the extinct volcano of Isero [meaning "Isarog", in the province of South Camerines, in Luzon, but traverses the southern portion of the island, and includes the active volcano of Bulasan [meaning Bulusan], at the extreme southern point of Luzon; it appears again in other islands, especially in the large island of Mindanoa.
The charm of old reports like this is really not in what they say correctly but in what they are not able to say correctly. The names of places are the victims of naming and memory. Heights also are the sites of mistakes. Mayon, for one, in many reports, rise to 8,00o feet and, in the 1903 report of the American Geographical Society, super majestic at nearly 9,000 feet. This is no wonder because in some travelogues of the early 1900s Bulusan in Sorsogon was compared to Mt. Vesuvius of Italy.