Aphio Trekkers The Story

APHIO Trekkers Philippines

The Story

By Marc Barcelona

“Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear, away once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean. “(John Muir)

        We live in the diverse world of Alpha Phi Omega where free thinkers roam, ideologist abound, beliefs, politics, hobbies, specialties, and myriad of common interest makes us unique from any other organizations. The APHIO Trekkers were no exceptions, our motto is “In Service and Adventure” truly summed up what we do as group to serve tribal communities in far off places and other communities in needs, and after the services, our group usually embarks in adventurous expeditions. Making it appealing to a group of brothers and sisters who love nature, the outdoors, our natural environments, lifetime scouters, and the love of service to humanity, and to our communities. We consider ourselves as an external extension of Alpha Phi Omega Philippines Incorporated, we follow the tenets of our national by-laws and adheres to its policies and guidelines. Although our group was just formally organized, with a new set of officers and by-laws, we are still in the in the process of bringing up the organization into formality and to be in coherence with the National Administrative Office. Meanwhile our group throughout the years have been working on the background in partnering our services with other APO alumni groups and associations, and to our credits we have also done a number of services on our own, in culmination to the events that enhances the activities of our Biennial Assemblies and other national events and in the process promoting Alpha Phi Omega, Philippines Inc. to all the communities that we served.

 “The Story Behind The APHIO Trekkers” a short bio about the trekkers was written by our brother Manny Cabido of Gamma Chi ’79 (Life) and it exemplified the true essence of our group, as I quote:  “APOism is a way of life and so is Mountaineering. It is a discipline that calls for utmost respect and dedication. Life is short and seeing the wonderful works of HIS creation and bear witness to its unfolding at the dawn of day and when the light of the sun rests on the horizon to give way to the darkness of night, are moments of joy and awe that bring us to the realization that we are part of these creations and we too, have responsibilities to protect and preserve them.  

APhiO Trekkers started as a loose group of APhiO brothers and sisters who found solace in
mountaineering. The discipline to some is a sort of sports, but associating ourselves with nature and its conservation and preservation leads us to the more meaningful pursuit of environmental responsibility, enabling us to answer for ourselves for all our actions that has to do with the environment. While many brothers and sisters had been involved individually in mountaineering, an attempt to involve the brothers and sisters all over the country was initiated on May 2006.” (end of quote).



Prior years our APO mountaineers led by brother Manny, have made numerous climbed to Mt. Apo and some other mountains in Mindanao, the Visayas, and Luzon particularly Mt. Pulag. The group popularly known as the APO Mountaineers, and APHIO Trekkers Mindanao, have made an impacts to the popularity of mountaineering to the members of APO, not only in Mindanao but also in Luzon, the Visaya’s, and to other countries. They participated in many aspects of services by training others to be a good steward’s of our forest, rivers, and mountains, conducted outdoor clinic to teach other about Basic Mountaineering Skills. The group even volunteered to climbed Mount APO to help in fighting the fires that devastated a large portion of the national park in 2016.  The legacy they started lives on.

THE LAKE HOLON PRE CONVENTION CLIMB AND OUTREACH SERVICE TO THE TBOLI.

The APO 29^th National Biennial Assembly in General Santos City (May 26-28, 2017) created a big enthusiasm during the scheduled pre-convention outreach service and trekking adventure to Lake Holon in the mountains of South Cotobato (May 24-25, 2017), it was also the first time it was considered to be an official event of the National Biennial General Assembly.  A large number of brothers and sisters have participated and successfully fulfilled the outreach service to the tribal villages of the T’Boli’s, by delivering school supplies, sleepers, and clothing’s to about 200 children on 2 locations, tree plantings along the trails.  After the services at the villages our group embarked in an arduous hiking journey to the mystical beautiful paradise called Lake Holon. The fellowships, the camaraderie, we have experienced during this event, created a closeness a true essence of brotherhood and sisterhood. 

The APHIO Trekkers also have special relationships with various Local Government, tribal leaders, and we are also in partnerships with various agencies like DENR, the local Tourist Board, and Mountain Rescue Operation. We also follow the tenets of LNT (Leave No Trace), as a member of the APHIO Trekkers we become a good steward of the environment, protecting it and educating others about respecting the beauty of nature. One of our future services will be to pick up trash along the trails, put signs that will remind hikers, trekkers, mountaineers to respect nature and be a responsible outdoor person. 

February 9^th – 12^th, 2018 -The Apolandia Outreach Service and the Quest for Mount APO

The power of oneness and unity, true dedications to serve, and the boldness to achieve a goal, are the true mark of an Aphio Trekkers.

In the shadow of Mount Apo, a village in the outlying hillsides of the mountain is called the Apolandia, and at the elementary school 207 school children from Kindergarten to 6^th graders waiting for our arrival and you could hear the loud noise of excited kids running towards the school covered assembly area. Our brothers and sisters enthusiastically hands out gift items to the children, while local officials look on, together with the school teachers and administrators alike. They were all so elated and thankful to the gesture of friendships and generosity of our fraternal organization. This gifts that came from the heart of our brothers and sisters, including the Dr. Librado I. Ureta Foundation and from a local business in Davao, in which they also donated generously into the success of the service program.

THE CLIMB 

Mount Apo is not an easy mountain to hike, the ratings varied from 8 to 10 in the mountaineering scale (the hardest which is 10). The trail that we choose is by far the longest and the hardest of all the other trail, more than 60 kilometers of pure hiking and climbing. The arduous journey made created a lasting impression’s into our mindset, it made us feel much stronger physically and mentally, it brought us closer together. This wondrous achievement of scaling the tallest mountain of the Philippines is second to none and especially a mountain that bears our name, and being at the top of the Philippines is something special, and we celebrated in glorious might, an overwhelming victory for us personally and as a group. “My, my, hey, hey, Mount APO is here to stay.”

THE CAST OF APHIO TREKKERS THAT CLIMBED MT. APO

Symbolically the APHIO Trekkers Philippines was also formally organized at Lake Venado campsite at 7500 feet above sea level, at the backdrop is the imposing summits of Mount Apo that we recently scaled.  The Trekkers finally voted for leaderships that will guides our newly organized group into the fold of Alpha Phi Omega, Philippines Inc. 

THE APHIO MOUNTAINEERS

President - Giza Montejo  - Beta Upsilon ‘83

Vice President - Mindanao Region - Carolyn R. Cotales - Alpha Rho '04

Vice President - Visayan Region - Raquel Doronila - Zeta Chapter '92

Vice President - Luzon Region- John Angelo Cruz - Xi Eta '05

Secretary - Evelyn V. Diaz - Lambda Tau '01

Treasurer - Jhoana Ross T. Calumba - Theta Beta '10

Auditor -  Nelvin S. Serfino Alpha Rho ‘09

Asher Lucmayon Cumahis Lambda Sigma ‘10

Adviser - Manny Cabido - Gamma Chi '79

Adviser - Marc Wilson Barcelona - Alpha Theta '80



Objectives: To stablished the group to have a strong presence in the 3 regions of the country, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, to be a strong advocate for the advancement of APO Philippines Inc.

Program Concept of the Group:  Service and Adventure

Accomplishments:  Service to the community, the tribal communities, member’s participation in various service project within the confined of APO Philippines Inc., Tree planting and reforestation services. Coastal cleanup service project. Outdoor sports involvements.

Activities - Some members presently participating in outdoor sports, like Trail Running, 10K Marathon, and other competition. It will lay out participation in outdoor sports in the future.

The group will be teaching BMT Basic Mountaineering Techniques, First Aid and CPR, survival training.

The group will partner and may participate with the APO Rover Scouting events.

The group will continue to support the NBGA pre convention activities and services.

A support group for other alumni association and to various APO national activities.

More tree planting service for our national parks and wildland preserves.