Vice President Binay joins Banahaw pilgrims

LUCENA CITY – Vice President Jejomar Binay joined the trek of Lenten pilgrims to Mt. Banahaw, known as a “sacred mountain,” police report said.

Inspector Elena Eleazar, Quezon police information officer, said Binay arrived in the village of Sta. Lucia at the foot of Banahaw in Dolores, Quezon on Maundy Thursday morning.

Binay was joined by Dolores Mayor Renato Alilio Sr. and other local officials in his meditation in several sacred spots along the lower section of the mountain that were open to the public, Eleazar said on Good Friday.

It was learned from some Banahaw protection volunteers that the Vice President also visited the place during Holy Week last year.

Many religious pilgrims trek the mountain, hoping to encounter a divine experience, particularly during the Lenten season, as they believe it is inhabited by heavenly spirits.

But since 2004, most of Mt. Banahaw had been declared off limits to pilgrims, trekkers and excursionists to give way to its rehabilitation program following long years of abuse by irresponsible visitors.

In 2009, the Protected Area Management Board, decided to seal off the mountain for three more years to sustain its rehabilitation.

Lawyer Sheila de Leon, regional director of environmentalist group Tanggol Kalikasan, said Banahaw volunteers this year found dried “rafflesia” flowers in one of the mountain trails.

“With the continuous presence of rafflesia and the evident return of indigenous flora and fauna, Mount Banahaw is now on its way to full recovery,” she said on Saturday.

From the records of known Banahaw species, rafflesia has long been a part of the mystical mountain’s rich forest wildlife.

Nilo Tamoria, Calabarzon regional executive director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, has appealed to devotees and mountain trekkers to stay away from the place to let Banahaw fully recover.

But De Leon lamented that despite the prohibition, mountain devotees continued to trek and trespass to the prohibited areas.

She reported that on Wednesday, a pregnant woman devotee was rescued by volunteers from the top of the mountain when she felt that she was about to give birth. The rescuers rushed the devotee to the nearest maternity clinic.

De Leon said police and Army soldiers also arrested several devotees who were caught drinking liquor and gambling inside their tents at the designated pilgrim sites.

“The Banahaw protection volunteers are now starting to conduct cleaning operations of trash left by irresponsible mountain visitors,” she said.