Tigbi 1968

This was the view in 1968 that Akihiko Shimizu, a Japanese Peace Corps Volunteer, saw from the window of the Tiwi Ceramics building that sparked the idea of installing a Japanese Garden in the vacant lot beside it.

He then told Mayor Oriel C. Clutario about his vision and the good mayor was receptive of the idea. They in turn gathered the Barangay Officials of Tigbi as well as other prominent citizens of the town for the project and they responded with a collective effort to make the Japanese garden in the heart of Tiwi a reality.

When I was in high school, New Wave was in vogue especially in the cities. But in Tiwi, Slow Rock ruled, and my buddies loved the music of the German rock group, Scorpions. We learned how to play their songs on the acoustic guitar and sang our lungs out to Always Somewhere, No One Like You, In Trance, When the Smoke is Going Down, Still Loving You, and Rock You Like A Hurricane, just to name a few.

We decided to call our group "Basag 49ers" one summer night -- we would usually meet up at night at places like the premises of the Tiwi Rural Bank, at Queens Park, the Japanese Garden, and on most occasions on the sidewalks adjacent to the bridge along the national highway in Basag, to jam and pass the time like most teenagers would do at the time and stay out until the wee hours of the morning especially on weekends doing nothing but singing those high-pitched rock songs and tinkering with the old guitar.

I remember Awo (Emmanuel Canale) who could belt out those high notes like the lead singer Klaus Meine effortlessly while strumming his guitar. I remember a casual friend Aba (RIP) who sometimes joined us with his drum set fashioned out of nylon taffeta from old discarded umbrellas in tow. I remember the times when we would strain our eyes from trying to read the lyrics of songs from the list in "Songhits" magazines under the dim street lights.

And I remember the endless jokes and silly banter, as well as the occasional drinking sessions that we had but were kept under wraps because some of us didn't have a "lisensya" from our respective parents yet.

On September 6, 2007, which was more than a decade ago, I made a 2-hour drive to Pine Knob in Clarkston to attend the Detroit stop of the Scorpions Humanity Tour. I did it not only for a respite from the daily grind but also to relive the memories of my teenage years.

Here are two of the video clips from that concert which I stumbled upon while reviewing my archives of my old Gateway laptop this afternoon.

"Power, cheap power, not the kind politicians covet, is a must for national progress."

"Power, cheap power, not the kind politicians covet, is a must for national progress."

Not many people know that back in the early 70s the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was already an advocate of geothermal energy. Yes, 46 years ago today on September 7, 1972, he wrote a three-part article on the subject in the Manila Times.

He wanted the government to harness "geothermal power" and called for the Commission of Volcanology (Comvol) after it successfully installed a "pilot experimental electric generator" in Cale, Tiwi, Albay to be placed under the aegis of the National Science and Development Board (now DOST).

The 2.5 kiloWatt turbine installed by the team of Comvol Chief Volcanologist Arturo Alcaraz caught the late senator's attention because of its potential to generate 500+ MWe.

Ninoy Aquino was fully aware about the Philippines' need to be "electrified" as evidenced by the constant brownouts in Metro Manila then. He averred that "electric power means lights for homes, schools and offices, and energy for farms, mills and factories" which will contribute to nation-building.

He also pointed out the pressing need because "it is even worse in the Visayas and Mindanao, more particularly in the deeper south where only the cities and a few of the bigger towns have electricity."

Thus, even during those times in the volatile days of the 1970s, Ninoy Aquino was still thinking of improving the quality of life of the Filipino people. He was far from the traitor and power-hungry politician that he was painted to be by the forces of the dictatorship years later. Alas, the declaration of Martial Law by President Ferdinand Marcos weeks later would put all of his ideas and plans in the freezer.

Among the places that were listed by Ninoy Aquino in the said article as promising for geothermal exploration and development were Mt. Malinao in Tiwi Albay, Mt. Makiling in Laguna, and Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales among others. The geothermal power plants in Tiwi and Makiling-Banahaw were realized and are part of what constitute as the Luzon Grid.

With the 1973 Global Oil Crisis taking its toll on the nation's energy situation, President Ferdinand Marcos embarked on an outside-funded nationwide energy exploration and electrification program and as they usually say, the rest is history.