Hundreds to join Everest team in Biak-na-Bato trek

MALOLOS CITY — Hundreds of Bulakeños are joining the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition team in the Save Biak-na-Bato trek tomorrow, officials said.

Isagani Giron, one of the leading historians in the province and a former president of the Samahang Pangkasaysayan ng Bulacan (Sampaka), said one of the trek’s primary goals is to create awareness on the need to preserve and protect the national park.

Biak-na-Bato has lately been in the news due to the continuing marble quarrying in its mineral reservation area which the provincial government has protested.

Giron said leaders of different non-governmental organizations and environment groups in the province will join local government officials and the Mount Everest team in the trek.

The trek will start after brief registration at Sibul Springs in San Miguel town at 6 a.m.

The participants will then proceed to Madlum Caves and then walk to Mt. Manalmon in Doña Remedios Trinidad town.

From there, they will go back to Madlum Caves and then head toward Biak-na-Bato where a brief program, highlighted by the signing of a declaration of commitment to preserve the national park, will be held.

As a historian, Giron said he will be in charge of explaining to the participants, especially to members of the Mount Everest team, the significance of Biak-na-Bato.

Earlier this week, mountaineers Heracleo Oracion and Erwin Emata, who recently conquered Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, and Arturo Valdez and Jong Narciso called on the people to support efforts to preserve Biak-Na-Bato.

They said marble quarrying within the national park’s immediate vicinity poses danger to the environment as well to the province’s history and culture.

Filipino revolutionaries led by General Emilio Aguinaldo used Biak-na-Bato as a fortress in their fight against the Spanish colonizers.

The late President Manuel L. Quezon declared it a national park in 1937, but former President Corazon Aquino divided it into four parts in 1989.

Recently, the public became aware of Biak-na-Bato as the provincial government spearheaded the opposition against the marble quarrying of Rosemoor Mining Development Corp. at Mt. Mabio in Barangay Kalawakan, Doña Remedios Trinidad.

Rosemoor insisted that it has a valid mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2002.

The provincial government, however, claimed that the company’s MPSA was illegal since it was neither endorsed by the provincial government nor the host barangay and town.

"It is not true; we have sanggunian endorsements," a Rosemoor official told The STAR.

At present, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in Central Luzon has yet to issue a new ore transport permit to Rosemoor.

This, as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is investigating the allegations against the validity of its MPSA. — Dino Balabo