A Remarkable day climb at Mt. Sinoron

As instructed by Local authorities of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur; our group was included to form part of an assessment and inspection team on January 17, 2012 to some landslide prone areas in Barangay Sinoron, a mountainous part located northwest of the municipality. Our main purpose was to document and conduct rapid field assessment of landslide prone areas in the barangay as parcel of the lined up activities of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

It was the group’s second attempt of the mountain, the first one conducted July of 2004 via the Tibolo route going to Mt. Libodon. This time, we took the more strenuous trail of Sinoron passing the Pilan River. We were accompanied by Barangany Captain Mercedita Rivera and former Barangay Captain Henry Lim, himself also a member of the Sinoron Tribal Guard Association.

It was during that climb that we discovered the vastness of the Sinoron mountain range. According to Mr. Lim, there were countless times that they saw a couple of the famous monkey-eating-eagle gliding across the huge forest of the area. Sinoron is also home to several endangered fauna like wild pigs and deers.

Our first stop for the survey was at Sition Pilan, just 1.5 kilometers away from the Barangay Hall. There we discovered two tension cracks in a farm lot owned by Mr. Romeo Cayamba. After our lunch at Pilan River, we proceeded directly to our second target area of sitio Bagon. Along the way, we passed through some minor assaults and found out adjacent mountains separated by Pilan River. Most notable of the mountains is Mt. Karawagan, a vast forested area located south of Sinoron.

At around 1:45 PM, we had our rest stop at sitio Bagon (567 masl). From this point we saw the northwestern portion of Sinoron featuring the forest of Mt. Gisi and Mt. Landig in the eastern side. And when we reached the border of Bagon and sitio Sangay (645 masl) where we had our second survey point, we spotted the lush forest vegetation of Mt. Soroso.

Sinoron is indeed blessed with a green carpet. With the presence of its landslide-prone areas and major water body, one of the things to consider is to preserve its forest resources and to make certain rehabilitation efforts so as to avoid natural disasters to happen.

Many thanks to those who joined the climb: Pawiks, Jonas, Tolits, Chickay, Melvin, Dra. Raygene, Dandan, Jercpas, Jobel, Odik, Jake and Annie Rose.