Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak. MindaNews file photo by BOBBY TIMONERA
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews / 04 June) – The close to 66,000-hectare Mount Apo Natural Park (MANP) is again off limits to the public. The park will reopen on September 1.
The yearly three-month closure of the park is in accordance with a 2021 en banc resolution of the MANP-Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), shutting the park off to the public from June 1 until August 31, every year.
The yearly off-limits season came about after authorities observed potential threats to the park’s well-being, like improper sanitation and improper waste disposal along trails and campsites.
Vandalism was also rampant with spray-paint graffities, some even engraved, on rocks and boulders along trails and at the peak of Mount Apo.
The MANP-PAMBI resolution prohibits all trekking and camping activities in all areas – the Soccsksargen and Davao regions sides of the natural park. MANP was established in 1936 and is considered home to the critically endangered Philippine eagle.
There are three access trails to MANP from Cotabato province — Kidapawan City and the towns of Makilala and Magpet. There are also access routes in Digos City and the towns of Bansalan and Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur.
“This is to give time for the sacred mountain to recuperate and allow wildlife to roam their natural habitats without anthropogenic intervention,” the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Davao region said on social media on Tuesday, June 4.
The annual break will help preserve the remaining forest and endangered wildlife in the Philippine’s King of Mountains, a DENR briefer said
DENR said the three-month break helps ensure the protection of the park’s unique eco-diversity, economic, cultural and ecological importance, with on-going efforts to declare it as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Lawyer Mercedes Dumagan, executive director of DENR-Davao, has been talking with local leaders in the Davao region side of the park about their important role in conservation and protection of the MANP.
DENR cited the initiatives in Bansalan town, Davao del Sur, for having an ordinance that requires a PAMB clearance on building and business permits. The ordinance is seen as a key step in regulating development within protected areas, Dumagan said.
DENR and Bansalan local officials have agreed to impose regulations on any development in MANP’s Strict Protection Zones (SPZ), like the importance of obtaining Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) from indigenous communities residing within the MANP.
On the Cotabato side of the park, there is a standing order to law enforcers and local officials from the provincial governor to closely monitor all trails leading to the 2,954-meter high dormant volcano, the country’s highest peak. (Rommel Rebollido / MindaNews)
