Apo to be reopened

COTABATO CITY — After nearly four years of closure, the trails to Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, will again be open to the public this summer.

Mt. Apo was declared off-limits to the public in 2000 due to what local officials bewailed as "total disregard" by trekkers of guidelines protecting the mountain from degradation.

The Mindanao Cross, a newspaper here of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, said the Protected Area Management Board has relented to the request of the Kidapawan City Tourism Council to reopen Mt. Apo to local and foreign tourists this summer.

The board, however, asked that signboards be put up along the trails, appealing to the climbers to help protect Mt. Apo. — John Unson