MYSTICAL SIGHT In this photo taken on Feb. 18, a circular cloud drifts above the mystic Mt. Banahaw in Quezon province, whose peak remains off-limits to Holy Week pilgrims and other trekkers.—JAY LIM/CONTRIBUTOR
LUCENA CITY—With the approaching Holy Week, an environmentalist group appealed to the government to strictly implement the off-limits rule for the mystical Mt. Banahaw straddling the provinces of Quezon and Laguna.
“This coming Holy Week is another challenge for all concerned government agencies. They all have to strictly implement the laws if we truly want to protect and rehabilitate Banahaw,” Jay Lim, project officer of public interest law firm Tanggol Kalikasan, said in an interview on Monday.
Lim also called on the public, particularly the mountain villagers, to help and join the government in its protection program for Banahaw.
“We all have to do our part. Let us all bring Banahaw back to her natural glory and mysticism,” he said.
Manny Calayag, a member of the Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape-Protected Area Management Board, stressed that Banahaw’s peaks classified as “strict protection zones”—where the more revered “holy spots” are found—would remain off-limits to pilgrims and trekkers.
Cultural spots
Visitors would only have access to several government-allowed areas at the base of the mountain in the adjoining villages of Sta. Lucia and Kinabuhayan in Dolores town.
“The open areas will be guarded by the authorities to maintain peace and order,” he told the Inquirer in an online message.
The open spots have been declared cultural and recreational areas for praying, camping and nature-tripping. The sites are open to the public throughout the year.
Magtanggol Barrion, a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) forest ranger in Mt. Banahaw and adjacent Mt. San Cristobal, reminded the public that the peak of Banahaw and San Cristobal remained closed to the public and that intruders would face punishment for violations of Republic Act No. 9847, which was passed in 2009.
The law designates Banahaw and San Cristobal as “protected areas.” Violators face six months to six years imprisonment or P500,000 to P5 million in fine, or both.
The DENR had also started posting printed warning signs and advisories on the dos and don’ts for Banahaw visitors during Holy Week in different spots at the mountain villages to guide visitors.
READ: Mt. Banahaw’s closure stays as forest ‘healing’ continues
Mt. Banahaw straddles the towns of Lucban, Tayabas, Sariaya, Candelaria and Dolores in Quezon; and parts of the towns of Rizal, Nagcarlan, Liliw and Majayjay and San Pablo City in Laguna.
In 2004, authorities installed barbed-wire fences to seal off several trails leading to the mountain’s interior to start a program to revive its natural resources that were destroyed by years of abuse by visitors. Before its closure, some half a million people would trek to the so-called mystic mountain during Holy Week in search of healing and miracles. INQ