Mt. Apo closed to mountaineers

Photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com.ph

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato, Apr. 15 (PIA) — Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, is off limits to all mountaineers, an official of the city  government of Kidapawan  announced.

Joey Recimilla, city  tourism officer of  Kidapawan and  eco-tourism committee chair of the Mt. Apo Natural Park-Protected Area Management Board (MANP-PAMB), told  Philippine Information Agency 12 that the PAMB  has agreed to restrict climbing to the peak  after the  destructive forest  fire.

Recimilla said the  PAMB, in its last meeting, has  passed  Resolution No. 1  declaring Mt. Apo “indefinitely  closed”  to visitors.

“The PAMB  has yet to  decide whether the closure should  last  for three or five years,” he said.

The  suspension of mountaineering activity in the area  would  give way for the  rehabilitation of Mt. Apo, he added.

The forest fire began in the afternoon of March  26 (Black Saturday) near the summit at the  Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur side.  It was  about the end of the  Holy Week climb.

In the  Kidapawan side, Recimilla said, the fire affected  about 18 hectares of  grassland.  It’s spread, he added,  was  curbed  after the city government immediately  dispatched  firefighting  volunteers to the  area.

Fire Inspector Nestor Jimenez  of the Bureau of Fire (BFP) XI  said the  total  area affected  by the  forest  fire  covered  more than  100 hectares, not 300 hectares  as reported.

Jimenez, who heads the Incident Command  Post,  said  the fire  has  been declared “fire out.” (DEDoguiles-PIA 12)

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