Celebrating Independence Day by Freeing Mt. Apo from Trashes

For the nth time, I climbed Mt. Apo on an Independence Day and this year’s climb is special as I led a group of volunteers for an inter-LGU simultaneous Mt. Apo Natural Park (MANP) clean up drive along with other local governments, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and B+WISER Program.

  

  

The group from Sta. Cruz was a mixed of mountaineering groups, government employees, porter association members and some freelance mountaineers. We were 36 volunteers all in all who conducted clean up drive of Mt. Apo via Sta. Cruz Trail in Davao del Sur. Other LGUs who conducted the same activity were from Digos City, Bansalan in Davao del Sur, Davao City, the municipalities of Makilala and Magpet in South Cotabato and Kidapawan City. It is an initiative of the Protected Area Management Board Ecotourism Committee, this time chaired by Kidapawan City Tourism Officer Joey Recimilla.

The climb basically aimed at sending a strong message to the mountaineering community about the importance of having a trash-free Mt. Apo. With the heightened climbing activities especially during long weekends and holy weeks, garbage left in Mt. Apo are increasing and there is an urgent need to clean up the mountain. 

The Sta. Cruz delegation started the clean up from sitio Colan all the way to the summit on June 11 and 12 using the Tinikaran Campsites-Boulders-Crater-Summit route. Aside from my LOGSAC group, other volunteers were from Astorga Mountaineering and Ecological Conservation Club (AMECC), Mt. Apo Adventures.com headed by Engr. Albert Gabriel and other freelancers.

The Sibulan Porters Association in sitio Colan also provided huge help by carrying trashes from the summit and Tinikaran campsites, thereby providing tremendous contribution in emptying Mt. Apo from garbage in time for the celebration of 2014 Independence Day. My salute to the members of Sibulan Porters Association for a job well done.

The Sta. Cruz group had unloaded a total of 420 kilograms garbage from the entire MANP Sta. Cruz jurisdiction. Instead of traversing to Lake Venado and Kidapawan Trail as initially agreed, the team went back to the boulders to carry the garbage as it would be very impractical and laborious to transport the garbage to the other side of the mountain. The collected garbage were instead turned over to the Municipal Environment and natural Resources (MENRO) for their appropriate actions.

Aside from leading the group of volunteers from Sta. Cruz, the Independence Day climb also allowed me to led a group of first-timers from my office. I would therefore like to congratulate my colleagues Marites Gonzaga, Eidine Karla Alerta and Michelle Mabel Alcala for making it to the top of the Philippines.

Also, gratitude is due to several entities who supported the event like the Municipal Council for Tourism, Culture and the Arts, San Miguel Brewery, Inc., Tinikaran Outdoor Shop, AMECC, MENRO, MEO and Mayor Joel ray Lopez.