Checking her refugees

          The seminar on Biodiversity of Peak 3 Mt. Makiling: A Preliminary Report by Dr. Manuel L. Castillo and Prof. Juancho B. Balatibat was a timely activity as the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystem (MCME) celebrated its 14^th anniversary on June 26^th, 2012.

            Understanding that the knowledge of ecosystem’s biodiversity is one of the primary steps to preserve a habitat and to conserve its refugees, the said group of researchers decided to accept the challenge of the infamous tough Peak 3 in an attempt to record its flora and fauna.

            According to the report, several plants and animals have been spotted in the area. For the list of existing animal species in the area, Prof. Balatibat included those that were seen by the local residents and those that left evidences on the trail. He acknowledged the difficulty of sighting mobile species considering the limited time spent in the area. Some of the species are known to be endemic in the Philippines. In general, they were also able to give overview about the status of the species. Interestingly, the researchers were still able to record some of the same species which were initially recorded as early as 1885.

            It was very clever to play a slideshow of pictures taken during the expedition while waiting for the seminar to set about. It was a very effective form of teaser. The presentation of the pictures of the species found the mountain was one of the most interesting parts of the said event as it gave way to help us paint a picture of how amazing the said ecosystem really is.

            Only few of the pictures of the fauna have been presented. It is understandable that it’s hard to take shots for a moving object but still, it could have been a lot better if more pictures were shown. There were numerous species that were unnamed or unidentified. As per the researchers, those might be new discoveries. They have been truthful to admit that there aren’t enough resources (both human and material) to help them classify the species. The report did not include mentioning whether there have been species recorded during the earlier explorations that were not seen in Haring Bato.

            It is good to know that our researchers are still up to taking extra miles to discover new things, literally and figuratively. This expedition in Mt. Makiling will definitely become a benchmark for future studies of the mountain, especially in the realm of biodiversity. True, it could have been better to have experts to help us arrive to accurate conclusions. Good news is we’re on our way there and this research is the step one of the process. Journeys begin in little steps, so does great knowledge begins in little discoveries.

(A reaction paper for a seminar.)