CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—As authorities in central and southern Mindanao are engrossed in snuffing out a persistent fire on Mt. Apo, their counterparts in the northern part are racing to save two other natural parks, Mt. Kitanglad and Mt. Kalatungan.
At least five fires have broken out in within and around the protected area of Mt. Kitanglad in Bukidnon province since April 2, razing a total of 851.5 hectares of natural forest and grassland. The burnt areas also covered sites of the the National Greening Program (NGP) of the government.
The Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park has a total land area of 47,270 ha, of which 31,236 ha have been declared a protected area. It straddles the towns of Talakag, Libona, Manolo Fortich, Sumilao, Impasug-ong and Lantapan, and Malaybalay City in Bukidnon.
Officials said the fire was spreading toward Libona town and was endangering the safety of at least 23 families living in Sitio Alawon in Barangay Sil-ipon.
On the other hand, the fire on Mt. Kalatungan, also in Bukidnon, has so far damaged 143.85 ha of natural forest and grassland.
No ‘fire out’ yet
Maria Theresa Allen, Bukidnon provincial environment and natural resources officer (Penro), said that while the fires in the two mountains had already been contained by newly established fire lines, a “fire out” could not yet be declared as more efforts were needed to fully quell these.
Allen said the volume of destroyed flora and fauna had yet to be determined, but most likely, she said, some of the endemic trees were burned down, too.
In a meeting held on Tuesday, environment and local officials led by Gov. Jose Ma. Zubiri appealed for more volunteers to finally put out the fires. At least P35 million was also needed to counter the grass fires and to rehabilitate the mountains.
Zubiri has pledged P5 million from the provincial government’s fund for the purchase of firefighting equipment and honorarium for the volunteers. Bukidnon, he said, had a surplus fund of almost P1 billion from last year’s budget.
Volunteers
The Office of the Civil Defense in Northern Mindanao held a separate briefing on Wednesday, reporting that over 100 volunteers had been involved in setting up the fire lines.
“We have to stop the fires as soon as possible. The life of the province depends on these mountains. We will do everything within our powers and capacities to solve this. We will not allow any forest fires in our province,” Zubiri said, adding that this was the first time in 43 years that a fire affected any protected area in the province.
Cloud-seeding on Apo
In Digos City in Davao del Sur province, cloud-seeding operations failed to douse the fire on Mt. Apo, which had been raging since Black Saturday.
Though it rained on Tuesday, embers continued to burn the next day, according to Harry Camoro, spokesperson of the Incident Management Team on the Mt. Apo fire.
“It did little,” he said, referring to the cloud-seeding activities that started on Sunday.
Some 50 medicinal red tea trees (Leptospermum flavescens Sm.), locally known as “tinikaran,” have been burned on the Apo side of Sta. Cruz town, also in Davao del Sur, Camoro said.
“The area is highly combustible and there’s a possibility that a new fire could develop,” said Rye Glenn Trinidad, president of the Mindanao Mountaineering Federation, as he narrated how dry the mountain had become due to the drought.
Camoro said more firefighting equipment had arrived and that volunteers were using water sprayers to quell the burning embers.
Mt. Matutum closed
In Koronadal City, the South Cotabato Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and the local government of Tupi, South Cotabato province, announced the closure of Mt. Matutum from mountaineering and other tourism-related activities.
Mt. Matutum, a stratovolcano that stands 2,286 meters above sea level (masl), has also been a favorite mountaineering and tourist destination in Mindanao.
Emil Sumagaysay, Tupi municipal disaster risk reduction and management council action officer, said the decision to shut the mountain was reached after two forest fires occurred on its slope.
On March 27, a fire of unclear origin broke out in Barangay Kablon, about
305 masl on the southern side of Mt. Matutum. It damaged about 5 ha of grassland but was immediately subdued, Sumagaysay said.
Another fire occurred on the other side of the mountain on March 30, damaging about a hectare of grasslands. Campers were seen in the area before the blaze.
“To ensure that a massive fire like the one going on in Mt. Apo is prevented, the PAMB decided to shut down the mountain,” Sumagaysay said.