KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 21 April) – After about two weeks of closure due to security concerns, the scenic Lake Holon in Tboli, South Cotabato is now open to visitors.
Tboli Mayor Keo Dayle Tuan lifted the closure order through Executive Order 31 signed Monday, a copy of which was made public Tuesday noon.
“After a series of security assessments and completion of clearing operations … Lake Holon, including its surrounding area, is now deemed generally safe for controlled public access,” Tuan said.
The security assessments and clearing operations were jointly conducted by the Tboli municipal police station and the Philippine Army’s 105th Infantry Battalion, he said.
Tuan ordered the temporary closure of Lake Holon, touted as the “Crown Jewel of the South,” following the April 9 encounter between soldiers and alleged New People’s Army (NPA) rebels in Sitio Tbul, Barangay Laconon.
Killed during the military operation were Anthony Narvasa, alias “Magaw,” secretary of the NPA’s Far South Mindanao Region, and Roda Kian, alias Mutya and Roxanne.
Narvasa was wanted for murder, multiple attempted homicide and attempted murder.
Lake Holon (previously named Lake Maughan), which is nestled on Mt. Melibengoy, also known as Mt. Parker, is a popular trekking destination in Tboli town.
The mountain and the lake were named after Frank Parker and Russell Maughan, both US military officers who died when their plane crashed while they were mapping the area in the 1930s.
Long before it became a tourism attraction, Holon, which means deep water in Tboli, was considered a sacred place by the tribe, though it had been associated with death and destruction.
On Sept. 6, 1995, Lake Holon’s crater wall collapsed, allegedly due to treasure hunting activities, sending an estimated 30 million cubic meters of water crashing downstream for 130 kilometers. At least 53 people were killed and P278 million worth of infrastructure and farm crops were damaged.
In 2003 and 2004, the national government recognized Holon, which is part of the Allah Valley Protected Landscape, as the cleanest inland body of water in the country.
From 2016 to 2017, the lake was also recognized among the world’s “Top 100 Sustainable Destinations,” an initiative by the global Green Destinations. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
