The Smashing Pumpkins rumbled through the chorus of Today on my iPod as I climbed the final steps towards the viewing deck of Mount Pinatubo. I was panting a bit, not really used to hiking for hours. I stepped towards the chasm and looked out upon the crater that has caused so much trouble to people of Central Luzon. I suppressed a gasp.

Everyone knows what a cliché it is to have a view take one’s breath away. But you won’t care about that once your eyes lay upon Mount Pinatubo’s emerald crater.

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Whispers silently echo through the black circular walls of the Capas National Shrine in Tarlac. The sky was devoid of clouds and the mid-afternoon sun shone hard, full and unfiltered. It was sweltering hot, but somehow, these whispers sent a shiver down my body.

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THE THREE-PRONGED PILLAR AT THE CAPAS NATIONAL SHRINE IN TARLAC

On the 9th of April 1942, around 60,000 to 80,000 Filipino and American soldiers, those who survived and surrendered after the Fall of Corregidor, were herded by the Japanese occupational forces at Mariveles, Bataan.

These prisoners of war were then forced to march for hundreds of kilometers, passing through the towns of Pampanga and Tarlac, their numbers dwindling every day due to hunger, disease, and fatigue until they reached Camp O’ Donnel in the town of Capas.

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”Where are we gonna have lunch again?” I asked my seatmate for nth time. The dragon in my stomach was already rumbling, ready to breathe fire at a moment’s notice. ”We’re having it at the VES food resorts,” he replied. What I heard him say though was that we’re gonna be having our lunch at the best food resort.

The best food resort! My goodness, my dragon cannot be happier.

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VES FOOD RESORTS AND VILLAS IN TARLAC

But it was a case of mispronunciation. It turned out we were having it at the V.E.S. Food Resorts and Villas. I thought we’d be going to a resort full of best dishes, so my enthusiasm somewhat diminished as I entered the airy hall of the resort. But that was before I saw what’s on the buffet table.