Govt body urges continued closure of Mts. Banahaw, San Cristobal in Quezon

SUNDAY, 19 FEBRUARY 2012 18:08 JOHN BELLO / CORRESPONDENT

DOLORES, Quezon—A body overseeing the protection of Mount Banahaw and Mount San Cristobal, the two legendary mountains straddling the provinces of Laguna and Quezon, is calling for the continued closure of the two mountains to tourists and visitors for another three years.  

At the regular meeting held last Thursday in Barangay Kinabuhayan here, members of the Protected Area Management Board of Mts. Banahaw–San Cristobal Protected Landscape (PAMB-MBSCPL) unanimously agreed to close the two mountain for three more years.

Lawyer Sheila de Leon, head of the environment advocacy group Tanggol Kalikasan (TK), said the action made by PAMB is for the further protection of Mt. Banahaw and for the benefits of the communities surrounding it. 

A research conducted by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau headed by Dr. Lope Calanog said the carrying capacity for the areas of worshipping, camping, parking and bathing has exceeded its limit. They said Mt. Banahaw needs to be closed for three more years so that the PAMB can conduct an assessment of its biodiversity and put in place a visitors’ management scheme.

TK and other environment nongovernment groups have been complaining of the continued deterioration of Mts. Banahaw and San Cristobal due to pollution from trash and other environment abuses caused by thousands of mountain trekkers, vacationers and devotees of the sacred Mounts Banahaw and San Cristobal, especially during Holy Week.

This prompted the PAMB to pass a resolution on March 9, 2004, closing some areas in Mount Banahaw for five years.  The closure covered areas in the side of Dolores and Sariaya, Quezon. Included were the sacred shrines called Puestos in Barangay Kinabuhayan from Cristalino Falls to Dungaw down to Tatlong Tangke and back to Kinabuhayan here.

In Sariaya, Quezon, the closed puestos were from Barangay Bugon-Pagbuga and Dulong Ilaya in Barangay Concepcion Pinagbakuran and Concepcion Banahaw.   

In a regular meeting of PAMB on Jan. 29, 2009, a resolution was passed extending the closure of Mt. Banahaw for three more years.

Hobart Dator Jr., president of Save Mt. Banahaw Movement, called the attention of the authors of Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Areas law-Sen. Pia Cayetano and then-Quezon Second District Rep. Proceso Alcala—in light of the frequent occurrence of calamities in the country that could hit the two mountains and endanger thousands of lives and properties in various communities in Laguna and Quezon.

“That’s why I am pressing for the creation of a Mt. Banahaw Preservation Authority [MBPA] to oversee and put in place the necessary measures and regulations for the protection of Mounts Banahaw and Cristobal and thus for the protection of precious lives and property that could be wasted in case an environment tragedy hit the two protected mountains,” said Dator who first asked President Aquino in September 2010 to create the MBPA in the aftermath of a kilometer-long landslide in the slopes of Mt. Banahaw triggered by Typhoon Basyang which hit the country July that year.

Dator said concrete actions and not mere palliatives have to be done to ensure environment protection and the preservation of the two mountains in view of the climate-change phenomenon gripping the whole world.