Facebook group, mountain protectors clash over Mt. Banahaw

MT. BANAHAW, viewed from Tayabas City in Quezon province, becomes a mecca during Holy Week for pilgrims, mountaineers and nature-trippers who consider the mountain mystical. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR./INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LUCENA CITY—A group of supposed mountaineers, using a Facebook page that invites trekkers to Mt. Banahaw, is on a direct collision course with authorities in charge of keeping intruders away from the mountain.

Salud Pangan, park superintendent for Banahaw and the adjacent Mt. San Cristobal, said contrary to what the group, claiming to be associated with Ugyanan ng Mamumundok ng Banahaw, had posted on its Facebook page, access to Mt. Banahaw is still restricted.

“Illegal climbers will face full prosecution of the law,” Pangan said.

On Facebook, members of the group Ugnayan and their Facebook friends have been exchanging narratives about trekking to Banahaw from Jan. 3-4.

The group posted photos from the Facebook account of one Jepoi Masibang and his friends showing them atop Banahaw.

In his posts, Masibang said he and his friends were able to climb Banahaw despite the government order to restrict access to the mountain. Masibang and his friends claimed they got a permit to climb from the park area superintendent’s office.

But Pangan said her office had not issued any permit to climb Banahaw. “If the climbers show permits supposedly issued by my office, the document is unscrupulous. My signature was forged,” she said.

According to their Facebook posts, Ugnayan members acknowledge Masibang as head of Masibang Outdoor Institute (MOI), which operates a Facebook page offering hiking, mountain climbing and other outdoor activities.

Schedules of climbs and other activities for 2015 were listed on the MOI Facebook page dated Jan. 5. Listed across Mt. Banahaw and the dates Jan. 3 and 4 was the word “checked,” indicating that the event had been concluded.

Some mountaineers furiously reacted to Masibang’s posts and reminded him he could face prosecution for violation of the law protecting Banahaw.

Masibang replied: “We’re ready.”

He added: “They have a lot of issues with Banahaw. Sorry guys. That’s how it is.”

Pangan said her office would immediately take legal action against Masibang and his group.

Violators face six months’ to six years’ imprisonment or P500,000 to P5 million in fine, or both, according to Pangan.

Arvin Carandang, Ugnayan founding member, said there had been so many pieces of wrong information about Banahaw spreading on Facebook, especially those saying that Banahaw had been opened to the public.

Ugnayan members said they would organize volunteers to guard the mountain’s entrance and apprehend violators.

Last year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources exposed the operations of several Internet-based syndicates enticing mountaineers and nature-trippers to gain access to Banahaw in exchange for a fee.

Most of the syndicate victims were overeager mountaineers and nature-trippers from Manila who were curious to rediscover Banahaw after its long closure.

The Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) closed the mountain peak in 2004, citing the deterioration of Banahaw’s environment and vegetation due to abuse and garbage left behind by trekkers.

Republic Act No. 9847 designates Banahaw and San Cristobal as protected areas and has   closed these to trekkers until February 2016.