- MITCH M. LIPA
A geologist from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and personnel from the National Museum will investigate this week the fiery rock discovered at the Negros Occidental High School grounds in Bacolod City recently.
NOHS principal Mario Amaca said Saturday that a representative from the National Museum told him that they are interested to check the mysterious shining black stone, believed to be a meteorite, that fell inside the school campus afternoon of June 4.
Amaca said that he and other NOHS department heads are still puzzled over the rock that he claimed came from the sky and crashed into the campus in flames. It made a small hole in the ground but a blast was heard like an exploding transformer, he added.
He said that Janette Sarcillo, the wife of one of their security guards, kept the rock for a week. She was outside her husband’s quarters when she saw a falling flaming object and heard a crash nearby.
Sarcillo told Amaca that when they checked, they saw a stone and discovered that it was a little hot to the touch so they dropped it in water and it turned into a shiny black stone.
Amaca showed the stone to members of the media on June 11 and has asked a geologist to help them identify its kind so the students can study it. The story reached the attention of people from the National Museum.
But Amaca said they will not allow any government agency to take the rock with them. If they want to study it, they can do so in the school so that knowledge can be shared with students and Science teachers, he added.
Any ordinary Negrosanon, aside from students and teachers, would want to know if the stone is, indeed, a meteorite, and “will be excited to learn the story of how it crashed in our planet, into our province, and in Bacolod City,” Amaca said. – MML
