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Mt. Banahaw is closed to the public
By RACHEL CASTRO-BARAWID
April 5, 2004, 8:00am
The mystical Mt. Banahaw, the country’s most popular pilgrimage destination for years, has been closed to the public for five years after being found in danger of destruction.
The Protective Area Management Board (PAMB), composed of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), local government officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and five major religious sects in the area, announced that it closed the holy mountain located between southern Laguna and Quezon province last March 25.
Sally Pangan, Protective Area superintendent said the closure, done with the installation of barbed wires, covered the areas of Kristalino, Suplina, Salaming Bubog, Kuweba ng Diyos Ama, Pinagsugalan, Dungaw, Kapatagan, and Tatlong Tangke.
She said only Brgy. Kinabuhayan in Dolores, the first stop of the pilgrimage tour to the inactive volcano, is temporarily open to local tourists especially pilgrims who usually spend the annual Holy Week rites in the place.
The immediate closure, according to PAMB provincial officer Penro Borja, is primarily due to the coliform species that were spotted in the rivers of Mt. Banahaw; heaps of trash particularly truckloads of mineral water bottles around the area; and squatting with some 200 concrete houses that were built in the Kinabuhayan area. Other hazards include hunting and poaching for pet trade; destruction of natives’ vegetation due to logging, kaingin, clear-cutting, quarrying; and the uncontrollable number of pilgrims that troop to the place every year.
Thousands visit Mt. Banahaw every year, especially during the Lenten season. Last year, some 500,000 local tourists and pilgrims were recorded by the Department of Tourism.
Borja and other PAMB officials are requesting the public to forego their plans of visiting the place this year, so that immediate rehabilitation can take place in the entire site.
DoT Southern Tagalog Regional director Louella Jurilla said the Department of Tourism fully supports the decision of DENR and PAMB.
"The closure is part of the promotion and development of ecotourism in the area. We appeal to the public to help support the move for rehabilitation of this important destination."
In 1987, Mt. Banahaw was declared a national park under Executive Order 224. Last year, Rep. Rafael Nantes filed a bill to declare the place a National Protected Landscape but it failed to be discussed in congress for lack of time.
The 7,382-feet extinct volcano is famous for its mystical attributes. Every Holy Week, unique religious rites and rituals are observed by pilgrims who believe that Christ walked in this mountain. Others even claimed that extra terrestials or unindentified flying objects landed on Mt. Banahaw a few years ago. There are approximately 88 registered religious sects in the area.
The mountain is not only a favorite site for amulet hunters, but is also a sanctuary of globally important birds of very restricted distribution, which cannot be found elsewhere in the world.
"Brgy. Kinabuhayan," according to religious sects, is where Christ spent His Calvary. Its popular attractions are the rocks where Christ was believed to have been tied too; His footprint embedded on a rock; and a cold and damp rock said to have curing power.
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