ENVIRONMENTALISTS to culminate month-long Sierra Madre patrol with tree-planting in AURORA

QUEZON CITY, September 21, 2012-As part of the 2^nd year celebration of Save Sierra Madre Day on September 26 and Save Aurora Sierra Madre Day on September 27, combined environmentalists from The Noble Blue Falcons International and the Green-Philippines will conclude their month-long environmental patrol of Sierra Madre mountain range with a culminating climb with tree-planting in Mt Egay in Dibutunan, Dipaculao, Aurora feared for its boulders but loved for its 7 majestic falls. On September 29-30, 2012 Noble Blue Falcons Int’l Environmental Mountaineers (NBFIEM) complemented by the Green mountaineers will gather in Aurora Province as they join Save Sierra Madre Network in celebrating the fight vs. mining, logging, kaingin, squatting, illegal vegetable gardening and wood charcoal-making in Sierra Madre.

As the mountaineers prepare for the First documented conquest and exploration of Mt Egay (Pinondohan) in Aurora Province, Prof. Sardz Colambo-President of Green-Philippines lambasted the pro-mining Provincial Board Members of Aurora in passing recently a controversial resolution allowing the large-scale mining exploration in the Province. “We will exhaust all legal means to stop the death of Aurora tourism due to the mining of its mountains and beaches,” he said. For his part, Prof. Joseph Beatriz Usita, National Chairman of the Noble Blue Falcons Environmentalists and Father of Environmental mountaineering in the Philippines , questioned the credibility and capability of DENR personnel in Aurora to protect its natural resources amidst persistent media reports of unchecked timber-poaching and wood charcoal-making(pag-uuling) in the mountains of Aurora Province.

Founded in March 19, 1996 in the Philippines, Noble Blue Falcons Environmentalists has 444,000 members(maximum cap) scattered nationwide with 8,000 Environmental mountaineers helping the provincial Government of Aurora to protect the province’s fast diminishing forest cover and promoting Aurora’s tourist spots thru eco-tourism advocacy.

A pioneer in Environmental Mountaineering, the Noble Blue Falcons Int’l is the biggest environmental group in the country today in terms of manpower strength while the Noble Blue Falcons International Environmental Mountaineers is the first and only mountaineering division in the Philippines organized solely for environmental protection. Green-Philippines, on the other hand, supports eco-tourism-based small- scale industries in the countryside.