This is the first of a three-part series examining how the Aeta resettlement community in Kalangitan in Capas, Tarlac fares 35 years after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo.
CAPAS, Tarlac – The road to the Kalangitan resettlement area doesn’t lead home for the Aetas who live here.
It starts from Bamban, just past the multi-story complex inextricably tied to the Alice Guo controversy, then runs into a four-lane stretch of road. A few months ago, lines of trucks lumbered down there to dump the collective filth of Central Luzon in the vast Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill.
On the other side of the road is Prayer Mountian, now stripped of its glory. Balding patches dot the landmark, and mounds of dirt and gravel pile up before it; word has it that it’s the beginnings of yet another golf course.
Then the road ends. Impeccably paved concrete gives way to a dry dirt path that rattles the wheels of any vehicle that dares to go over it. Here, the sun presses hard on our backs, and dust swirls up in gusts. And here, a community has been forced to make their home.
