Mounts Banahaw, San Cristobal to remain closed to trekkers till 2012

MANILA, Philippines - The mythical mountains of Banahaw and San Cristobal in Southern Tagalog will remain closed to pilgrims and trekkers this Holy Week and until 2012 to allow their rehabilitation from decades of wanton environmental destruction.

Sen. Pia Cayetano made the announcement as she welcomed the approval on Monday of the bicameral conference committee report reconciling the Senate and House versions of bills seeking the protection of the two mountains.

On March 9, 2004, the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), in Resolution 2004-0001, ordered the mountains closed for five years and fenced off public entry points.

The ban was prompted by the discovery of high concentrations of coliform bacteria in the mountain’s waters.

It was also reported that some 90 tons of garbage were being collected annually which had been traced to tourists and trekkers who dumped these indiscriminately, especially during the Holy Week.

Before the five-year ban lapsed this year, the PAMB decided to extend the prohibition for another three years or until 2012 in a meeting last February.

Cayetano said she was also expecting President Arroyo to sign into law her Senate Bill 2392, “An Act Declaring the Mountains of Banahaw and San Cristobal as a Protected Landscape,” before the Lenten break following its bicameral approval.

Its counterpart measure, House Bill 4299, was principally authored by Quezon Rep. Proceso Alcala.

Cayetano said the bill’s enactment would institutionalize current mechanisms to regulate human activities and arrest the destruction of the two mountains.

The Senate passed the measure on third reading last Nov. 10, when Cayetano still chaired the Senate committee on environment and natural resources.

“While it is widely regarded as a sacred place, Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal have not been accorded due respect and have not been spared from human exploitation,” she said.

“It is unfortunate that some people who troop there to meditate, especially during the Lenten season, haven’t been mindful of their responsibility to protect the environment. This prompted the public ban enforced in 2004 by the Protected Area Management Board that sought to spare the mountains from further destruction,” she said.

Cayetano added: “I hope the public would agree that the ban should stay. It’s only right that we allow the holy mountains to heal after decades of wanton destruction.”

Since the ban’s enforcement, she said there have been evident signs of restoration of flora and fauna.

“The rafflesia, the biggest flower in the world, started to reappear there. Last year, it was also reported that water has started flowing again to its once dried-out falls, namely Kristalino, Suplina and Salaming-Bubog,” she added in a statement.

Cayetano said the reconciled bill upheld standard provisions culled from the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 or NIPAS Act.

These include the declaration of land classification, scope and boundaries; creation of a Protected Area Management Board; establishment of a Protected Area Fund; and identification of prohibited acts and their corresponding penalties.

Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal cover 10,784 hectares and 10,900 hectares, respectively, and span the provinces of Laguna and Quezon.

Both mountains were declared protected areas through Presidential Proclamation 411 in 2003. Their rich biodiversity includes 578 animal species and 56 plant species.

The whole area is a critical watershed that drains into Laguna de Bay and Tayabas. Its water systems support the Botocan hydroelectric power plant in Majayjay and Luisiana, both in Laguna, and provide the water needs of at least one million people.