Aside from the majestic Mt. Mayon, people planning to travel to Bicol all have another picture in mind: the well-known Cagsawa Ruins, a Franciscan church which was purportedly buried when Mayon erupted on February 1, 1814. If you visit now, you will only see the iconic bell tower still standing, with the rest of the structure long gone.
To make you more giddy and excited in planning that trip to Bicol, particularly the Cagsawa Ruins, here are five things you need to know:
No, the Cagsawa Church wasn’t buried by Mt. Mayon’s eruption
Contrary to popular belief, there is now proof that the Cagsawa Church was, in fact, not buried by the pyroclastic debris from Mayon’s 1814 eruption.
In 2014, Albayanon novelist Abdon M. Balde, Jr. shared photos of the Cagsawa Church dating as far back as 1928. In the said photos, the facade of the Cagsawa Church was still intact by the early 1900s. Balde also pointed out that eyewitness accounts gathered by historians on the 1814 eruption did not mention that the church was buried in ashes.
Bicol tourism officials also note that the Cagsawa church is over 10 kilometers away from Mayon’s crater, making it safe from the volcano’s 6 kilometer-diameter “danger zone,” which experts say was the farthest that lava from the volcano reached.
Contrary to popular belief, there is now proof that the Cagsawa Church was, in fact, not buried by the pyroclastic debris from Mayon’s 1814 eruption.
But the church was probably destroyed by the 1814 eruption
While proof has now surfaced that the Cagsawa church has never been buried by Mayon’s pyroclastic debris, experts are not discounting the fact that the 1814 eruption made significant damages to the structure.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Mt. Mayon’s most destructive eruption was recorded on February 1, 1814, more than 200 years ago. Dubbed as a “Vesuvius-like” eruption (the historic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79), it was said that Mayon spewed hot gas, volcanic ash, and pyroclastic flows in 1814, leaving 1,200 casualties and making significant damages to the towns of Camalig, Cagsaua, Budiao, Guinobatan, and most of Albay.
With that strong eruption, no doubt the structure of the Cagsawa church was indeed damaged, even if it was not technically buried. The facade of the structure is believed to have collapsed only in the 1950s, following a string of earthquakes.
Cagsawa was once the town
Though now located in the municipality of Daraga, Cagsawa was once a town in its own right. Part of the plaque placed on the church steeple in the Cagsawa Ruins reads, “The authorities of Cagsawa meeting at Ligao, 6 July 1814 decided to incorporate their town as part of Daraga.”
Before the merger, Daraga was once only a barrio of the destroyed Cagsawa town.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), Mt. Mayon’s most destructive eruption was recorded on February 1, 1814, more than 200 years ago.
It’s about an hour away from Manila (by air of course!)
Planning a trip to the Cagsawa Ruins? It’s located some 2.2 kilometers from the center of the town of Daraga, and about 6 kilometers from the city of Legazpi. If you fly from Manila, it’s a 55-minute ride to Legazpi Airport, from where you can take another short land trip to the ruins. You can also take the bus route from Manila, though it would take some 12 to 14 hours. An overnight trip is recommended.
Visit in February
When’s the best time to visit the Cagsawa Ruins? Bicol tourism officials have an answer for that: February! It’s during that month when they celebrate the Cagsawa Festival, which honors the Cagsawa Ruins as a National Cultural Treasure. It’s also in time for the anniversary of the horrific 1814 Mayon eruption.
Visiting during the Cagsawa Festival enables you to enjoy a vast array of entertainment shows, pageants, sports and culinary activities, and a lot more!
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