Professor Leonardo Usita, president of the Noble Blue Falcons International Association Inc. (NBFIAI) which organized the mountain trek, said the 13 survivors who conquered Sierra Madre include: his brother Christopher Usita, Dennis Avenilla, Christopher Castillo, Edwin Pantalunan, Ruel Rosales, Anthony Aganad, Norman Maglayuan, Frank Tabios, Richard Leander, and cousins Roger Hugo and Godofredo Hugo and Luis Baynosa and Lowell Baynosa.
The 13 were issued certifications that they survived the historic mountain trek, the first mountain adventure organized in the province.
Usita said the climbers scaled the peak of the Sierra Madre. Majority quit or opted to stay behind because of sheer exhaustion.
The adventure aims to promote mountaineering as a sport in this side of Luzon, promote tourism in the province and help increase environmental awareness.
The event is regarded as the most challenging mountain trek involving the Sierra Madre, which stretches from Cagayan to Sorsogon covering nine provinces. It is the longest mountain chain in the country and is also the most treacherous of the ranges.
Historian and renowned professor Joseph Usita said the survivors were lucky to weather the threats posed by cobras and snakes along their paths.
"As we all know, the Aurora mountainsides is cobra country," he said. "Who says 13 is an unlucky number? It isn’t. Look, we have 13 survivors," he said.
The mountaineers came from Falcons chapters in Metro Manila, Pampanga, Tarlac, Cabanatuan City, Rizal, Antique, Batangas, Cagayan and Marinduque. They were joined by the Elite Red Falcons’ Climbers (ERFC), the Aurora-Sierra Madre Blue Mountaineers (ASMBM) and Korean students who negotiated the coastal barangays of Real, Dibalo, Zarah, Ditumabo, L. Pimentel, Nonong Sr., Diteki, Dibut, Dibayabay, Dikapinisan and Dimanayat.
The UP Diliman-based Falcons, which was founded in 1996, has 1.9 million members worldwide, 300,000 of whom are in the Philippines. Its members include environmentalists and peace advocates, professionals and technocrats.