New mountain to scale for Everest climbers

First posted 05:23am (Mla time) June 21, 2006
By Blanche Rivera
Inquirer

http://news.inq7.net/archive_article/index.php?ver=1&index=1&story_id=5801

Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the June 21, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
FROM MOUNT Everest to Biak-na-Bato.

Leo Oracion and Erwin Emata, the first Filipinos to reach the world’s highest peak, have come a long way to save the national park in San Miguel town, Bulacan province.

The members of the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition (FPMEE) team will join the Trek to Save Biak-na-Bato next week to stop quarrying operations that are destroying the national park. FPMEE leader Arturo Valdez, Oracion, the first to reach the summit on May 17, and Emata, who followed a few hours later, had pledged to help the Bulacan provincial government and environmental groups stop marble quarrying in the historical and protected site.

Destruction of history

“I hope every Filipino supports this as well because it’s our history that’s being destroyed here,” Oracion said in Filipino during a press conference in Quezon City yesterday.

Recalling the first time he went to Biak-na-Bato five years ago and his last trek there last year, Oracion noted that the water level of the rivers had declined and trash was left by visitors in the park.

“I was really happy when I went there for the first time. If we destroy it, what will be left for us?” he said.

In a hearing two weeks ago, the Bulacan provincial government and environmentalists had asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to cancel the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) granted to Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp. (RMDC) in December 2002.

The Bulacan provincial government and the environmentalists were still waiting for the decision of the DENR.Permit since 2002

The MPSA was given to RMDC despite a proclamation in 1989 which declared portions of Biak-na-Bato as protected areas. About 658 hectares had been declared a national park, 938 hectares a watershed forest reserve, 480 hectares a forest reserve and 953 hectares a mineral reservation.

The MPSA was granted in 2002 by former Environment Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez who gave RMDC a permit to extract marble in a 330-hectare area within the mineral reservation.
“As people were interested in our climb to Mt. Everest, we hope they will also be interested in Biak-na-Bato. We are wiping out a national patrimony here, and that is a powerful message,” Valdez said. “This is not just about the desecration of a national heritage but of the environment as well,” he added.

Florentino Narciso, another FPMEE member and a University of the Philippines Mountaineer, said his group often took high school and college students to Biak-na-Bato for their first trek because it was the best place for hiking near Metro Manila.

“As we say, protect nature and nature will protect us. We’re here to support the campaign to save Biak-na-Bato for the future generations,” Emata said.Because of its historical significance, Biak-na-Bato was declared a national park by President Manuel L. Quezon on Nov. 16, 1937.
The mountain that extends all the way to San Miguel, Bulacan, served as a base for Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and his 500 men who escaped from Spanish troops in Batangas province.

Deep into mountain

According to local lore, there was a marble slab in one of the stalactite-filled caves that served as the table on which Aguinaldo signed the historic peace pact with the Spaniards.Quarrying operations, however, had been moved deeper into the mountains despite strong anti-quarrying lobbying by Bulacan government officials. This was because the regional director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR continued to issue ore transport permits to RMDC.