Dancing light in the sky mystifies Pampanga folk

ANGELES CITY — A greenish white light that seemed to dance over this city from 6 to 11 p.m. the other day stirred residents of this city and neighboring Mabalacat town, a few hours before a meteor shower occurred at dawn yesterday.

In Barangay San Joaquin in Mabalacat, local folk even turned off street lights to get a better view of the oblong-shaped light that reportedly moved in irregular, alternating circular and straight motions.

"It was very clear and the light, from our place, seemed to hover above the Sto. Rosario church (in downtown Angeles)," said Noel Tulabut, an employee of the Clark Development Corp.

Tulabut said he and his neighbors witnessed the mysterious light starting at 10 p.m., but other people reported seeing it as early as 6 p.m.
The number of witnesses grew as news about the strange light was passed on via text messaging on cellular phones.

Jojo Due, correspondent of Today and resident of Barangay Malabanias here, said the light was greenish white. "It could not have been a searchlight since there was no beam of light that led to the hovering glow in the sky," he said.

Due called up the local police to find out whether any searchlight was being beamed somewhere in this city, but got a negative reply.

Rendy Isip, a correspondent of Manila Standard and resident of Barangay Sto. Domingo here, said his family alerted him about the light at about 7:30 p.m.

"It was an oval glow that seemed to dance in a circular motion. It was very visible," he said.

While some claimed that the light was visible only when there were clouds, Tulabut said he and his neighbors noted that the strange glow persisted even when there were no clouds.

This STAR reporter received a text message about the strange light at about 10:30 p.m. in Barangay Lakandula in Mabalacat, but failed to see the phenomenon.

But in 1995, a similar occurrence was observed over St. Jude Village in San Fernando, some 15 kilometers from Angeles City, but the case was never investigated. This reporter saw that strange light.

Some local residents theorized that the phenomenon could have supernatural significance amid possible political and economic upheavals threatening the country under the Estrada administration.

No scientist from the astronomical division of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration could be contacted for comment yesterday, a non-working day.

Earlier this year, hundreds of people from Balanga to Limay in Bataan saw a mysterious ball of fire, triggering a frantic search for possible fallen remnants of the object throughout the province.

Nothing was found even as residents insisted having seen the ball of fire streak through the sky on the coast of Bataan.