Devotees, mountaineers oppose Mt. Banahaw permanent closure
Following recent fires that swept patches of forests and grasslands on Mt. Banahaw and nearby Mt. Cristobal, environment authorities are seriously considering plans to permanently close the mystical mountain from public intrusion but may not convince religious devotees and mountaineers.
“We’ve long been thinking that it would be better to permanently close Banahaw for her continuous growth and rehabilitation,” said Salud Pangan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) park area superintendent for Banahaw and San Cristobal.
Pangan spoke to the Inquirer by phone two weeks ago from her base in the mountain village of Kinabuhayan in Dolores town, Quezon province, at the foot of Banahaw.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje had earlier announced plans for the permanent closure of Banahaw, a popular destination for trekkers and religious devotees during the Lenten season, following successive fires that hit the two mountains. Authorities believed the fires were manmade.
The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), a multisectoral body tasked by the government with monitoring protected areas, declared Banahaw’s peaks off limits to trekkers until February 2016 to protect gains from its closure since 2004.
Mountaineers and devotees immediately opposed the DENR plan.
Regulated access scheme
“A total closure of Mt. Banahaw is ideal but also impossible and unrealistic. What we need is a regulated access scheme and strict implementations of its guidelines,” Pastor Noel Suministrado, a veteran mountaineer, said in a statement.
He called the DENR plan a “knee-jerk reaction.” Banahaw has long been off limits to the public, he said, “So this total closure thing is kind of off-key.”
Suministrado said the authorities should just formulate realistic guidelines that have to be strictly enforced.
Jom Daclan, head of the University of the Philippines Mountaineers’ environment committee, said a temporary closure would still be prudent to provide an opportunity for assessment on the condition of the mountain.
“A permanent closure would be problematic, more so for the DENR and the PAMB,” Daclan said. The two agencies, he said, had shown that they lacked the resources to monitor and enforce the regulation against entry to prohibited areas in Banahaw.
“Thus there is no guarantee that permanently closing Mt. Banahaw to public access will ensure the protection of its biodiversity,” he said.
Working with sects
Instead of unilaterally prohibiting public access to the mountain, the DENR and the PAMB should work with the religious sects, mountaineering organizations and other responsible groups concerned with the state of the environment in Banahaw to review and rationalize the policies and procedures for granting access to the area.
A devotee from Lucena City, who regularly climbs Banahaw during the Holy Week, said the DENR plan would only encourage more daring trespassers.
“The freedom of practice of religious belief is paramount to any devotee. It cannot be prevented by any law, that’s why there will always be intruders in Banahaw because of the sacred spot which for pilgrims, is their place of worship,” the devotee said in a phone interview.
He requested that his name be withheld because he and his family regularly trekked to one of the religious spots inside the restricted area during the Holy Week, passing through one of the many secret foot trails upward the mountain.
Pangan asked media practitioners and the information arms of the national government to help the PAMB in disseminating information on the rationale behind the proposed permanent closure.
“Permanent closure will not be an easy task. But we believe that once the public is enlightened through the help of the media, we will eventually gather popular support,” she said.
‘Puesto complex’
Under the plan, what will remain open to the public are the religious “puesto complex,” which refers to the location of several “sacred spots” at the base of Banahaw in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Dolores. These spots inside the restricted areas at the peak had been the prayer sites of devotees until the PAMB closed the area in 2004 until 2016.
Banahaw, classified as an active volcano, has a land area of 10,900 hectares. It is 2,170 meters (7,119 feet) above sea level.
The recent fires damaged 100-140 ha of grassland in San Cristobal facing Laguna and 50 ha of mixed bush land and forest trees on the western slope of Banahaw facing Sariaya town.
In a search-and-rescue operation, five pilgrims belonging to Hiwaga ng Bundok Banahaw Inc., a religious sect based in Las Piñas City, were found in one “sacred spot” outside the restricted area in Banagaw.
Pangan said six other sect members who crossed over the fence and climbed toward the prohibited area at the peak were intercepted by the search unit while going down in the mountain village of Concepcion Pinagbakuran in Sariaya.
The suspects—Criste Bulante, 45; Merencia Santiago, 44; Jinky Mae Dulay, 21; Francisco Alpapara, 73; Richard Espita, 43; and Tristan Joe Alpapara, 28—were brought to the Sariaya police station. They will be charged with violation of the PAMB closure order, while the five who were found in Dolores will be released as they were outside the restricted area, Pangan said.
She said the investigation report from the Bureau of Fire Protection was still being awaited to determine whether to file an arson case against the six.
