BOTOLAN, Zambales, Philippines – Treading cautiously on the clayey soil, Manila Bulletin Chief Photographer and famed lensman Alberto Garcia knew he was only inches away from letting go of one of his biggest emotional baggage.

“Ikaw ba yan? (Are you this person?)” Garcia asked the brownskinned man standing in front of him while pointing to the four photos he took during the catastrophic June 15, 1991 eruption of nearby Mount Pinatubo.

Taken from a cement bridge in this municipality, the previously unpublished photos show a man in a white T-shirt and pink shorts running away from a black cloud of hot ash and volcanic debris belched just minutes earlier by volcano.

“Ah, oo (Oh, yes),” answered Aeta descendant Reynaldo Denito, who, at 53 years old, has since settled in Barangay Loob Bunga here with his wife, five children, six grandkids and the rest of his extended family.

That was all Garcia needed to hear. He hugged Denito like a long-lost brother. Denito’s neighbors, mostly oblivious to that moment’s poignancy, nonetheless shared in it by giving an approving yowl and applause, with smiles frozen on their faces.

“Tama ang kutob ko, buhay pa siya (My hunch was correct, he’s still alive),” Garcia said, failing to hide his excitement.

For the veteran photojournalist, successfully tracking down Denito just days before the 20th anniversary of Pinatubo’s eruption was like hitting paydirt.

Furthermore, finding his photo subject alive means Garcia can now put to rest the burden he has carried with him since his first encounter with the Aeta farmer 20 years ago.

“Whenever I look at these photos, I always ask myself if this man (Denito) survived,” said Garcia, 55, who at that time was a correspondent for TIME magazine on special assignment to cover the “reawakening” of Pinatubo.

“I’ve always had a hunch that he was still alive. In that regard I’ve always wanted to go back (to Botolan). I want to know his story right after I took that picture of him.”

Blind faith

Perhaps that “hunch” was more of optimism, a sort of blind faith in a quest to attain peace of mind, since Garcia and his fellow media practitioners at the location – three groups in all, each with a van – could have saved the Aeta by offering him a lift.

With a black cloud (shaped like a cauliflower, locals recall) hanging over their heads, intermittent groundshaking and a continuous thundering roar from the volcano, the members of the media were already on escape mode when Garcia spotted Denito.

“He had that bewildered look,” recalled Garcia as he clicked a series of shots. “He didn’t seem to know what he was doing or where he was going.” Boy Cabrido, a freelance photographer that was part of the team, recounted how he asked Garcia a question – one that would haunt his friend for years to come.

“Pasasakayin ba natin (Shall we give him a ride)?” Cabrido said, pointing to the man with the pigs.

Garcia shook his head, according  to Cabrido. Leaving Denito behind, the media vans were soon racing away as the hot cloud of ash and pyroclastic materials gave them their own deathdefying chase.

It was touch and go; run or rest in peace.

Years later, Garcia revealed how he struggled with the decision to leave behind the then 33-year-old Denito. “When in you’re in that kind of situation and in this kind of profession, it’s quite difficult to choose which to prioritize.”

“But I felt that I had a moral obligation to tell the world at large what was happening there, what these people were going through, and how they can be helped to survive this disaster.”

Considered as the most destruction volcanic eruption of the 20th century, the Pinatubo disaster left over 250,000 people homeless throughout central Luzon, killing over 1,000 others and burying vast fertile farmlands via destructive, rain-triggered lahars (mudflows).

Survivor’s tale

Appearance-wise, hardly anything has changed between the man in the pictures and the man in the flesh.

However, Denito now has streaks of gray hair and is losing feeling on the right side of his body. He said he suffered what he described as a “mild stroke” a few years ago while plowing a field that he has to walk nearly two kilometers each day to reach.

Asked how he managed to escape the advancing volcanic debris, Denito answered: “Tumakbo lang ako” (I just ran).

“Inabot ako nung mainit na buhangin, buti na lang hindi ako masyado nasaktan (I was burned by the hot ash, luckily I wasn’t hurt that bad),” Denito said. He had earlier taken his family to safer grounds.

“Noong malapit nang sumabog yung bulkan, binalikan ko yung baboy namin. Hindi ko naman alam na nacamera pala ako dahil nagmamadali na ako (I went back to fetch our pigs as the volcano was about to erupt. I did not know that pictures of me were being taken because I was in a hurry).”

Denito said the place had gone dark as night as the gigantic cloud of ash enveloped the place. “Natatakot na rin ako kasi masama na yung abo (I was fearful of the dangerous ash fall).”