Pinatubo
32 years ago on this day, June 15, the largest volcanic eruption of the last 100 years happened right in Central Luzon in the Philippines. Today we remember the lives lost, and the resiliency of Kapampángans in the midst of facing one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history.
PINATÚBÛ • (pi-nuh-TOO-boo’)
(Sambal: Pinatobo, Tagálog: Pinatúbò)
an active volcano in Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales provinces in the Philippines. Its June 15, 1991 eruption was the largest volcanic eruption in the world in the last 100 years.
Root Word
TÚBÛ • (TOO-boo’)
to grow (out of something/somewhere, like plants in soil)
Tagálog (Filipino): túbò
Verb Conjugation
túmúbû, tútúbû, tínúbû – to grow (out of somewhere, like plants) (Actor Focus)
patubuan, pátubuan,
Literal Meaning of “Pinatubo”
“Pinatúbû” (pétúbû in monophthongized standard Kapampángan) / “Pinatúbò” literally means “was made to grow” in Kapampángan / Tagalog.
Mount Pinatubo Now
After the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, the caldera was filled with water from annual monsoon rains, and a picturesque crater lake formed which has become a popular tourist spot and hiking destination.
Pinatubo in Mythology
Mt. Pinatubo is known to the Kapampángans, Sambals, and Aetas as the abode of Apo Namalyari / Malyari / Mayari who is the deity associated with the moon in these mythologies. The deity’s name can be associated with several words in Kapampángan: maliári which means “to happen or be possible” and mayárî which means “to finish or end”.
According to native elders, its 1991 eruption was induced by Apo Namalyari due to illegal logging and exploratory drilling on the volcano looking for geothermal heat in the late 1980s to 1990s which was stopped a few months before the eruption due to discouraging results.
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