22 armed treasure hunters nabbed on Mount Banahaw Inquirer
December 01, 2007
TAYABAS CITY, Philippines -- At least 22 persons believed to be engaged in illegal treasure hunting activities on Mt. Banahaw were arrested early Saturday morning by combined military and police elements, together with environmentalist groups and government forest officials.
The arresting officers, however, failed to find any gold or any part of the fabled Yamashita treasure.
Police Superintendent Gerardo Umayao, Tayabas City police chief, said the raiding team also seized one M16 rifle; three .45 caliber pistols; one .38 caliber revolver; assorted explosive devices; chemicals and bladed weapons.
Aside from personal belongings, the treasure hunters, some of them dressed in fatigues, also yielded identification cards supposedly issued by the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police regional special operation group, the military’s National Capital Region Command, National Bureau of Investigation and the Ombudsman.
“We will subject those IDs to further verification,” Umayao said.
Sally Pangan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources park superintendent for Mt. Banahaw, said officials from the mountain barangay (village) of Lalo informed them Monday about the treasure hunting.
She said she immediately coordinated with the police, military and the Lucena City-based Tanggol Kalikasan (Defend Nature)-Southern Tagalog for the raid and apprehension of the suspects.
Aside from charges of illegal possession of firearms, explosives and bladed weapons that the police will file against the suspects, Pangan said the group will also be charged with violating Republic Act No. 7586 (National Integrated Protected Areas System).
The diggers had no permit for the treasure hunt, according to Pangan. Treasure hunters should secure a license from the DENR and other concerned government agencies.
Pangan said the raiders left at around 3 a.m. for the treasure-hunting site located in the upper part of Lalo, inside the Mt. Banahaw-San Cristobal protected area.
Army Lieutenant Francis Tupaz, team leader of 13 soldiers from the 1st Special Forces Company, said the suspects did not put up any resistance when they were surprised by the raiding group.
“Apparently, they were still resting and had yet to start another day of digging when we found them,” Tupaz told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net.
Pangan said the diggers were conducting their treasure hunt inside a cave, the upper portion of which they used as a rest station.
One of the suspects, who identified himself as Ariel Mendez, said his group had just arrived in the area several hours before the raid.
“The raiders were probably after the other group who already left,” he told the Inquirer.
The raiders said the treasure hunters were using a Japanese map to guide them to the location of what they believed to be the buried treasure.
Legend has it that World War II Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita ordered the burial of treasure plundered earlier from various temples on the Asian mainland buried in different parts of the country before his surrender.
Last month, three persons died of suffocation while excavating for hidden Japanese treasures inside a tunnel they dug in a residential area in Biñan, Laguna.
