Mount Manunggal

The Beauty of Mount Manunggal

Mount Manunggal is a mountain in Barangay Magsaysay in Balamban, Cebu, rising 1,003 meters/3290 feet above sea level. It is the site of the crash of the presidential plane Mt. Pinatubo which killed President Ramon Magsaysay and twenty-four others on March 17, 1957. An annual trek is held here to commemorate his death. The site is accessible through many trails but the trail from Tagba-o and at Cantipla in Tabunan, Cebu City is the main route from which the yearly Pres. Ramon Magsaysay Death Anniversary Climb is held. Mt. Manunggal is within the enclave of the Central Cebu National Park and is protected by Republic Act 8457, otherwise known as the “Central Cebu Protected Landscape Act”; which also covers the Mananga-Kotkot-Lusaran river system, the Sudlon National Park and the watersheds of Buhisan, Mananga and Lusaran.

The trail to Mt. Manunggal from the jump-off point at the river that separates Cebu City from Balamban is quite steep and could be achieved in about four (4) to seven (7) hours for first-timers, depending upon your physical conditioning, and about two (2) to three (3) hours to those who are now very familiar with its terrain. The trail to Mt. Manunggal from Tagba-o is absent of forest canopies and wildlife and traverses through many upland farms planted with onions, tomatoes, 

ginger, garlic, eggplants, cabbage, carrots, etc. It is wide enough to let two persons pass by each other at its narrowest part and there are no prominent barriers which impede movement save for the lack of shady areas to rest from the penetrating heat of the sun.

Water resources abound within the foot of the mountain like rivers, springs and waterfalls. A cool spring near the campsite gives visitors relief from thirst and its water volume never lessens even in extreme drought and El Niño conditions.

At the campsite, the monument to Pres. Magsaysay and the cylinder block of one of the Pinatubo's engines remind visitors of the historical value of Manunggal in Philippine history. A chapel, erected nearby during the height of a communist insurgency in the 1980s, guides the local inhabitants' spiritual yearning.

By: Persephone Hannah Kassidy