Mt. Apo porters now wildlife officers

Porter Joel Mabandos, 27, flashed a rather shy smile as he led the way on the shortest, yet most difficult, Ilomavis trail of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak at 3,143 meters above sea level.

Apo, a 64,053-hectare protected area, is home to many unique plants and animals, as well as indigenous peoples.

“I have been a porter since I was 14. I find this job enjoyable and fulfilling. I’d probably grow old doing the same thing,” said Mabandos, who belongs to a Manobo family of porters.

For every climb, he earns about P350 and is one of more than 200 registered porters in Kidapawan City. Off-season, he works as a laborer at a nearby geothermal plant in Kidapawan, where the minimum wage is P275 per day.

Mt. Apo Natural Park is one of 32 ecotourism sites in the country and is considered a key biodiversity area of international importance. But the park, regarded as a sacred place by indigenous peoples like the Manabo, is in danger.

Heavy traffic

Around 6,000 hikers visit the park each year, and summer draws the highest concentration of people. Left unregulated, this heavy traffic harms the natural ecosystem and ecotourism business.

Apo’s biodiversity and forests are also threatened by the conversion of forests for agricultural use, expansion of settlements and illegal cutting of trees primarily for household use and charcoal making.

The United States government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are partnering with Mt. Apo’s Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and local government units (LGUs) within the park to create and implement collaborative governance mechanisms to conserve the park, better manage ecotourism development, and improve environmental law enforcement.

Through this partnership, Mabandos was able to attend a porters’ training, organized by the USAID’s Biodiversity and Watersheds Improved for Stronger Economy and Ecosystem Resilience (B+WISER) in June 2014. The five-year program aims to conserve biodiversity, reduce forest degradation, build capacities of key stakeholders to conserve biodiversity, manage forests and support low emissions, and contribute to disaster risk reduction in seven priority watersheds and protected areas in the country.

The training was co-organized with the DENR, PAMB Ecotourism Committee, the regional Department of Tourism and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. It allowed Mabandos and other porters to improve their skills in mountaineering, first aid and public relations, and to become stewards of the forest, protecting endangered flora and fauna from irresponsible climbers who litter garbage and capture wildlife.

Wildlife officer

Since completing the training, Mabandos has been designated as a wildlife enforcement officer by the DENR.

“It was the first formal training I attended. I learned a lot and I believe I am more capable to do my job and keep watch for offenders. We need to preserve the park so that people will continue to come and enjoy its beauty,” he said.

In February, the PAMB, with USAID’s assistance, passed a resolution on a new policy for all six LGUs—Digos City, Sta. Cruz and Bansalan towns in Davao del Sur province, and Kidapawan City, Makilala and Magpet towns in North Cotabato province, within the Mt. Apo Natural Park.

The first for a protected area in the country, the policy, to be implemented this month, will apply across all six LGUs where six trails are found within the Mt. Apo Natural Park. It covers trekking, guide and porter fees, responsibilities of guides and porters, booking of trekkers, campsites and trail management, solid waste management, prohibitions, and penalties for misbehavior of climbers and tourists.

It also includes a mandatory 10-percent annual increase in all fees and penalties.

More income

Apart from this, the policy pegged a 43-percent increase in the porters’ potential daily net income. To protect porters from being abused due to excessive baggage load, an additional P50/kilogram will be paid on top of the 15 kg covered by the base porter fee with an allowed maximum of 20 kg per porter.

The increased fees will help generate more than P6 million annually for the park and improve livelihoods for the 450 people who work as porters and guides, half of them indigenous.

Because of this new policy, Mabandos and other porters can earn an additional P500 per day.

Mabandos averages two four-day climbs per month during peak season, which translate to at least P4,000 per month of income. This enables him to contribute to his family’s household expenses and send his younger siblings to school.

The bigger fees will provide the LGUs with funds to enforce rules and conduct regular monitoring and cleanup operations on trails and in campsites.

Cleanup event

Last year, the USAID co-organized a five-day cleanup drive in Apo. Around 400 volunteers came and collected 2.6 tons of garbage left by campers.

READ: 2.6 tons of garbage left by climbers at Mt. Apo—PAMB

The volume of trash has prompted Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago to file a resolution directing a Senate committee to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on protecting the country’s popular tourist spots for mountaineering.

Joey Recimilla, chair of the PAMB Ecotourism Committee, said uncontrolled trekking activities and large amounts of littered garbage harmed Apo’s biodiversity.

“With the new policy, we can control the volume of climbers to help maintain the natural ecosystem, conserve biodiversity and restore the forest,” he said.

Sustainable rehab

The policy will help LGUs and national line agencies coordinate their efforts, especially in disaster situations where preventive and sustainable rehabilitation measures for the mountain are needed.

With Apo being one of the most visited ecotourism sites in the country, the policy will create a common ecotourism agenda for the LGUs. Villages can be tapped to help manage checkpoints as porters and guides carry out the trekking policy and monitor threats to biodiversity and the forests.

Police officers will be better trained to enforce laws related to ecotourism.

With the full implementation of the common trekking policy, PAMB members are hoping that this will lead to better ecotourism enterprises that are environmentally sustainable and economically viable for local communities, providing porters like Mabandos the opportunity to uplift their well-being as they conserve and enhance the natural beauty of Apo. With a report from Oliver Agoncillo, Contributor

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Editor’s Note: The author, Angel Tiamson-Saceda, is communications specialist for USAID’s B+WISER Program.