Rehabilitate Mount Banahaw, Noy asked

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – The Save Mount Banahaw Movement (SMBM) has called on President Aquino to include in his priority agenda the rehabilitation of Mt. Banahaw, in the face of devastating typhoons the country has experienced.

Hobart Dator Jr., founding president of SMBM said a considerable portion of the mountain is now denuded, causing landslides during heavy rains.

“Almost four kilometers of Mt. Banahaw in Lucban side is seriously damaged and needed to be rehabilitated,” Dator said in a recent interview over a morning program at Kiss-Fm 95.1.

He lamented that the provincial government allocated a measly P1 million for the rehabilitation of the Lucban side of the mountain.

Dator also called for the strict implementation of Republic Act 9847, which declared Mt. Banahaw and Mt. San Cristobal as protected areas.

He said an agency tasked with the total rehabilitation, protection and preservation of the two mountains should also be created.

“This Banahaw Authority shall be the sole council body responsible for the general care of the mountain, formulating and implementing rules and guidelines applicable to its task,” he said.

“We benefit much from Mt. Banahaw and other firms generate income from it, like the Quezon Metropolitan Water District – getting its water supply from this mountain – yet we pay no attention to its own much-needed support to recuperate from the wounds we inflict on it,” he added.