DENR to pilgrims: Keep Banahaw clean

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday reminded pilgrims and hikers to keep Mt. Banahaw clean, as they are expected to troop to the mystical mountain this Lenten season.

Through an intensified Bantay Banahaw Operation 2009, the DENR enjoins visitors to be conscious about the impact of their activities on the ecosystem of Mt. Banahaw.

The DENR noted that in the past, especially after the Lenten season and summer vacation, Banahaw visitors left tons of garbage that adversely affected the mountain’s environment.

Nilo Tamoria, executive director of DENR-Region 4-A, said Bantay Banahaw was conceived to ensure that the impact of human activities on Mt. Banahaw will be minimized, particularly the garbage that the public generates during their stay in the mountain, which is part of the Mt. Banahaw-Mt. San Cristobal Protected Landscape under Presidential Proclamation No. 411 dated June 25, 2003.

Tamoria said the area’s dipterocarp, coniferous and hardwood forests comprise one of the three remaining protected areas in Southern Tagalog that is rich in biodiversity and high in endemic species.

In 2004, a number of areas in the towns of Sariaya and Dolores on the Quezon side of the protected area were closed to the public for five years due to the degradation of the environment. 

Among the causes of the area’s degradation were the presence of fecal coliform in the Sta. Lucia River, decreasing spring water specifically in Dolores, indiscriminate tree-cutting, sanitation problems, and accumulation of garbage up in the mountains, Tamoria said.

The closure of the areas ended last Jan. 29.  However, in a recent meeting, the Protected Area Management Board extended the moratorium for another three years to allow more time for the protected area’s ecosystems to recover.

Closed to the public are the Dolores side of Mt. Banahaw from Cristalino Falls to Dungaw up to Tatlong Tangke in Barangay Kinabuhayan, and the Sariaya side from Pagbuga and Dulong Ilaya to Barangays Concepcion Pinagbakuran and Concepcion Banahaw.