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)