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Mt. Malindang Natural Park
Mt. Malindang National Park is the lifeblood of the province
of Misamis Occidental, Mindanao. With 15 major watersheds or catchment
basins, the Park sustains the economic life of the province including the
municipalities bordering the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga
del Norte. About a million people depend on the Park for irrigation, for
industrial and domestic water supply as well as for food.
The Park is an important biodiversity refuge. A great number
of diverse endemic faunal and floral species are found in the old-growth and
mossy forests in the higher areas. The flora is dominated by several
dipterocarp species while the faunal species include among others, the
Philippine eagle; Philippine hawk eagle; Rough armed tree frog (rare); Water
monitor lizard; Philippine warty pig; Golden-crowned flying fox
(endangered); Philippine brown deer (rare); Red-bellied pitta (rare); Rufous
hornbill (rare, threatened); Philippine hanging parakeet or colasisi; and
the Philippine woodpecker. Although several species have yet to be
identified and/or discovered, many may already be threatened or endangered
and some may no longer exist.
Lower down the mountain, the landscape has changed. Some
areas have been logged and cleared for farms and gardens. Similarly, areas
along the foot slopes and around the coast, up towards the Dipolog River
have been cleared and planted to coconuts and irrigated crops.
Mt Malindang was proclaimed as a National Park and Watershed
Area on June 19,1971. It covers a total area of 53, 262 hectares. With the
enactment of NIPAS Law in 1992, Mt. Malindang was one of the initial
components of the system, although the legal procedures required by Chapter
3 of the Act have yet to be completed. The boundary has been re-surveyed and
revisions to it proposed:
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Mt. Malindang is
the central feature of the eastern part of the Zamboanga
peninsula of the island of Mindanao. The park itself occupies
most of the area above 800m on the mountain and is about 1150
Km SSE of Manila Scheduled public transport is available to Oroquieta
(park headquarters), but not to the park itself, although it has numerous
roads leading close to it, about 20 which actually lead into it, plus about
another 20 or so less well defined tracks. |
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the Park proper (core zone) is now 34,694 hectares
and has been re-designated as Mt. Malindang Natural Park; while 18,334
hectares has been designated as buffer zone. The park itself covers 65
barangays in 14 towns. |
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The buffer zone is home to some 18,000 people
while some 900 others live in the core area of the park. Nine
out of ten people living in the core are Subanen. The Subanen
are indigenous people residing in the area. They probably
arrived in Mindanao before the 16th Century, and are
culturally distinct from more recent immigrants, having their
own language and customs. |
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