8th Visayas Mountain Festival opens

By Dale Rosal
Cebu Daily NewsFirst Posted 07:15:00 03/29/2011




AROUND 150 participants are expected to take part in the four-day 8th annual Visayas Mountain Festival which starts this Thursday in Cebu City’s mountain barangays.

The event will be hosted by the University of San Carlos Mountaineers Club and the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines Inc. which aims to reinforce responsibility and safety in the great outdoors, promote conservation and outdoor destinations in the mountain barangays of Cebu City. 

Camp site is in barangay Tap-tap where the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (CREMDEC) is located. The camp also covers barangays Tagba-o, Tabunan and Sudlon.

The entire campsite is the former Cebu City National Park, now a protected area covering 32,000 hectares of rivers, waterfalls, one of Cebu's last remaining rainforests, caves and mountains.

The event’s official launching was held yesterday by event coordinator Joel Carino and Mervil Patigdas of USC Mountaineering, Cliff Abrahan of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), barangay captains Precilo of Sudlon 2, and Ana Tabal of Tagba-o and MFPI vice president for Visayas Ramon Vidal.

They discussed the event with Cebu City Vice Mayor Augustus “Joy” Young and Cebu City Councilor Margot Osmeña at the Cebu City Hall.

“It's easy to promote conservation to people who love the outdoors,” Young said.

The camp will cover basic mountaineering, caving, bouldering, biking and other mountaineering-related activities. It will also take up trail etiquette, basic backpacking, preparation and camp setting.

Transportation will be available in front of the Cebu City Hall at 8 a.m. this Thursday.

On-site registration fee is P600 inclusive of one meal. Successful participants will receive certificates.