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Saturday, April 20, 2007
Tourism says it's ‘not responsible’ for Apo climbers
By Ben O. Tesiorna
DAVAO CITY -- The Department of Tourism (DOT) says it has nothing to do with Mt. Apo and it is grossly unfair to blame the office for the drowning of a climber there during the Holy Week.
DOT Regional Director Sonia Garcia said this in reaction to Sun.Star Davao's headline story Thursday.
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In a telephone interview, Garcia said all they do is promote tourist destinations in the region.
She said the installation of emergency rescue units on destinations like Mt. Apo is the responsibility of the local government units.
Garcia also denied that the "user's fee" being collected from climbers go to the DOT.
"The user's fees go to the LGU and not to DOT," Garcia said.
She said even the place where Ian Caasi drowned is not anymore within Southern Mindanao, but falls under Kidapawan area, which is in Southwestern Mindanao.
Garcia said it is unfair for anybody to put the blame on them when they are just doing their job.
She said regulating mountain climbing at Mt. Apo and seeing to the safety of climbers are responsibilities of the local government unit (LGU), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and the Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB).
"You headlined me and my office, you did not even have the fairness to get our side," Garcia said. "How unfair naman, online pa man kayo."
The story written by correspondent Jeffrey M. Tupas quoted a leader of a mountaineering group, a certain Jumar Bolo--chair of the Kinaiyahan Amomahon, Ubanan ug Bantayan (Kauban) Movement, as saying the death of Caasi could have been avoided had the tourism department, the primary agency responsible for inviting people to climb Mt. Apo, set up measures to assure the safety of mountaineers.
Over the years, Bolo said, there was a failure on the part of the government to really institutionalize mountain climbing despite the many incidents of misfortunes that befell climbers while scaling up and down Mt. Apo in the past.
"The incident would have not happened had government agencies like the Department of Tourism only did their duty to the people. This agency commodified Mt. Apo by charging mountaineers hundreds of pesos in registration fee during climbs and yet mountaineers are not getting what they pay for in terms of services," Bolo said.
"We know that the registration fee does not, in reality, assure us of our safety but the DOT has responsibility over the safety of the mountaineers. Also in reality, it was the DOT that encouraged the people to climb Mt. Apo as part of its promotion program, selling Mt. Apo like a product, and so this agency is supposed to be answerable to whatever will happen to us while climbing up and down the mountain," Bolo added. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (April 20, 2007 issue)
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