Philippines' 'sacred' mountain hit by forest fire
Play
A forest fire was raging on Wednesday atop a Philippine mountain, threatening endangered plants and animals in an area also considered by some local sects as a holy place, officials said.
The government’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said about a 10-hectare patch of forest near the summit had been destroyed as of early yesterday. In an advisory it also warned the fire near the summit of Mount Banahaw was still spreading.
Firefighters have still not reached the blaze some 18 hours after it was first observed, said municipal disaster official Elmer Bustamante.
“The area is too steep,” he told AFP by telephone from the town of Sariaya at the base of the mountain, about 95 kilometres south of Manila.
Environment officials in the region are surveying the fire aboard a military aircraft to check the extent of the damage and see how best to get it under control, Bustamante added. The cause of the fire is unknown, he said.
Backpackers have been banned from the 2,158-metre peak since 2004 to protect its bio-diversity.
Several sects that worship on its lower slopes continue to go to the area, though officals say there have been no reports of anyone being trapped.
Wildlife officials said Banahaw’s forests, including a 10,900-hectare protected zone, are home to scores of animal species found only in the Philippines, including a species of cloud rat that was discovered only in 2004.
Ivan Herzano, project officer of the non-government group Foundation for the Philippine Environment, said despite access restrictions, forest rangers lacked the capability to track all persons who may be illegally entering the protected area.
“Most likely it was a man-made fire,” he said. Poachers looking for game could have lit dry litter on the forest floor by carelessly discarding cigarette butts, he added.
The foundation has recently completed a 60-hectare reforestation project on the mountain, which has protected zones that are off limits to human habitation as well as “multiple-use zones” on its lower slopes reserved for locals, Herzano added.
