Five-year Mt. Kamhantik development plan launched in Mulanay

By Rowena T. Cruz Mayor Aristotle L. Aguirre and government representatives unveil the Mt. Kamhantik CADP marker during its August 11 launc...

By Rowena T. Cruz

Mayor Aristotle L. Aguirre and government representatives unveil the Mt. Kamhantik CADP marker during its August 11 launch in Mulanay. (LGU Mulanay)

MULANAY, Quezon — Balancing heritage conservation with tourism and rural livelihoods, a five-year development plan for Mt. Kamhantik was recently launched. The Archaeological-Ecological Tourism Site Convergence Area Development Plan (CADP) adopts a ridge-to-reef approach for projects and programs scheduled from 2026 through 2030.

Mayor Aristotle L. Aguirre led the municipal ceremony, where officials formally presented the framework’s development priorities and five-year implementation timetable. The program also included partner messages, the unveiling of the convergence marker and presentations covering proposed projects through 2030.



The initiative followed the National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development’s approval of Mt. Kamhantik as a convergence area on September 11, 2024. Joint Resolution No. 12 approved the completed CADP on October 14, 2025, directing its regional technical group to finance and implement projects through 2030.

The approved framework primarily covers the three barangays of Buenavista, Ilayang Cambuga and Latangan within the main Mt. Kamhantik convergence area. The plan’s influence area also includes Bagupaye, Poblacion 1 to 4, Bolo, Butanyog, Ibabang Cambuga, San Pedro and Santa Rosa.

Across those communities, the municipal plan proposes pump engines, cattle dispersal, forest guards, seedlings, mangrove propagules and plant nurseries. It also lists farm-to-market roads, ecotrails, comfort rooms, evacuation centers and training in organic farming, disaster response and ecotourism services.

Detailed financial information remains absent from the publicly released CADP covering projects proposed throughout the Mt. Kamhantik convergence area. Government summaries identify no total budget, agency allocations, project costs or construction schedules despite the regional group’s funding mandate.

Despite unresolved financing, DA-CALABARZON reported that Mt. Kamhantik spans roughly 300 hectares and supports farming communities across the convergence area. The mountain, identified as the highest in Quezon’s third district, combines grasslands, secondary-growth forest and extensive coconut land.

The archaeological site lies in Sitio Kamhantik within the Buenavista Protected Landscape, where the mountain’s environmental and historical resources overlap. The National Museum of the Philippines documented box-like sarcophagi uniquely carved from limestone, providing evidence of indigenous mortuary practices before Spanish colonization.

A late Tang Dynasty Changsha bowl recovered from a carved limestone sarcophagus further establishes Mt. Kamhantik’s importance to Philippine archaeology. The National Museum identified it as the earliest Chinese trade ceramic recovered from a Philippine archaeological site and evidence of ninth-century maritime exchange.

Barangay Buenavista Captain Felix Aguirre said farming remains the principal livelihood of many residents within communities covered by the convergence plan. Accordingly, the CADP combines agricultural assistance, access roads and tourism facilities with measures for conserving the mountain’s forests and coastal ecosystems.

Also present were Sangguniang Bayan members headed by Vice Mayor Jay E. Castilleja and representatives from the DA, DAR, DILG, DOT and DENR. During the ceremony, participating offices signed the commitment wall for coordinated implementation across the barangays covered by the Mt. Kamhantik plan.