Protests prompt review of hike in Banahaw fee

PILGRIMS light candles on Mount Banahaw on Holy Wednesday. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR./INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LUCENA CITY—Vehement, and sometimes violent, opposition to the increase in the entrance fee to Mount Banahaw has prompted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to relent and charge the old fee.

Salud Pangan, DENR park area superintendent for Banahaw and adjacent Mt. San Cristobal, said she would propose a return to the old fee of P20 per person in a meeting of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) next week.

The PAMB is a multisector body created by law to keep watch over protected areas.

Pangan, however, said the old rate would apply only during Holy Week due to the annual throng of pilgrims. “The rest of the year, all Banahaw visitors will be charged with the new gate fee of P50 each,” she said.

In April 2014, the PAMB approved an increase of the entrance fee from P20 to P50. The PAMB is authorized by law to collect fees for its Integrated Protected Area Fund.

The collection of the new fee was supposed to start on Palm Sunday, March 29, but opposition from pilgrims, trekkers and local officials caused its cancellation by the DENR.

The PAMB closed the mountain peak in 2004, citing deterioration of the environment and vegetation due to abuse and tons of garbage left behind by trekkers.

The peak will remain closed until February 2016 but the PAMB has decided to maintain the base of the mountain in the villages of Kinabuhayan and Sta. Lucia in Dolores, Quezon province, as a “multiple-use zone,” which will keep it open to the public but with tougher penalties for violators.

Dolores is the most-known gateway to Banahaw, believed by mountain devotees to be mystical and sacred.