BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Mountaineers and bikers have suspended their activities in the province owing to the reported presence of New People’s Army forces in remote upland areas.
Raymund Zamora, event organizer of Lagalag Nueva Vizcaya-Ifugao, said mountain climbing organizers in Luzon have canceled their scheduled treks from Feb. to April this year owing to the escalating encounters between government forces and the NPA.
“We had to cancel these climbs considering the risk and safety of our clients, because they might be caught in a crossfire,” he said.
Zamora said they had scheduled the following mountain climbing activities: at Mt. Ugu in Kayapa town in Nueva Vizcaya last Feb. 18 to 19; at Mt. Manalmon-Gola in San Miguel, Bulacan on March 4; the Ambaguio, Nueva Vizcaya trail to Mt. Pulag in Benguet on March 5; at Mt. Amuyao in Ifugao province on April 1 to 2; and Mt. Anacuo traversing the Sierra Madre mountain ranges on April 9 to 13.
The schedules were immediately called off after reports of armed encounters in Asipulo, Ifugao; in Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya; in Maddela, Quirino; and in some other parts of Northern and Southern Luzon as government forces stepped up their offensives against the communist rebels.
Zamora said the Ambaguio Warrior Run scheduled on March 25 was also canceled.
Mountain bike enthusiasts here also expressed condemnation over the alleged killing of a lone biker last Feb. 14.
Police report said the victim, Oscar Ibarra, in his early 40s, was biking along the road in a remote barangay of Antipolo in Asipulo, Ifugao, a day after an encounter between Army soldiers and NPA forces when he was shot.
It was unclear if the motive of the shooting was robbery or insurgency-related, as Ibarra was a retired colonel of the Philippine Air Force, it was learned.
Genaro Basilio Jr., chief of the public affairs and information assistance division of the provincial government and a mountaineer, said mountain biking competition in unsafe areas will be skipped during the celebration of Nueva Vizcaya’s 2017 Ammungan Festival.
Scheduled from May 19 to 24, the festival was to feature a biking competition, among other events.
“These skirmishes between the NPA and government forces serve as a big blow to the adventure tourism in Nueva Vizcaya and other provinces. I, for one, consider mountain climbing as a pilgrimage to nature,” Basilio said.
Tourism within the local government units, he added, will also suffer from a decrease in local and international adventure tourist arrivals.
Previous reports of Provincial Peace and Order Council members showed that a small band of NPA fighters are traversing Nueva Vizcaya’s boundaries with Ifugao, Quirino, Nueva Ecija, and Aurora provinces.
