Posted: May 16, 2006 11:58 pm EDT
According to latest news in Sunstar.com, Filipino Heracleo "Leo" Oracion was climbing the Everest South summit ridge, at 10:50 am local time. This means that the climber should be celebrating the summit any minute now, providing all goes well.

But who will end up being the first to plant the Philippine flag on the summit of Everest? Yesterday, there were unconfirmed news on Filipino Dale Abenojar reaching the summit from the north side, despite previous reports stating he had aborted his attempt.

Harry Kikstra had seen Dale only days before heading down the valley on the back of a yak. So when Harry found him Friday, between ABC and C1 'apparently going for the summit' he was very surprised. Details are sketchy and the news has yet to be confirmed – a complete report and proof is expected from Abenojar soon.

Wait, more Filipinos heading up!

Erwin "Pastor" Emata, another member of the national expedition was expected to reach Camp 4 by 12 noon or 1 p.m Wednesday. Romi Garduce preferred to follow a more regular pace, and is currently between C3 and C4.

The island archipelago of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters has two independent climbers and a national team currently climbing the mountain; in a quest to plant the Philippine flag on the summit of Everest for the first time.

The National Philippines Mount Everest Expedition was planned for 2007, but rapidly brought forward their plans when they heard a single climber, Romeo Garduce, was attempting the peak this year, after refusing an invitation to join the expedition in 2003.

A dark horse in the quest was Dale Abenojar. Abenojar was the first Philippine to publicly announce his intention to climb E in the 90's. Blogs from the MFPI (Philippines Mountaineering federation) e-groups say he turned up at EBC in '93 but didn't get as far as Khumbu icefall and instead spent the whole time in Base Camp. Abenojar is a mountaineer and a 4x4 enthusiast, member of the land rover club of the Philippines. He became famous in the Philippines for driving a 4x4, his 'deranged rover' as he called it, to the crater of mount Pinatubo.

Romeo "Romi" Garduce (spelled 'Garduch' in some media) too hoped to become the first Philippine to summit Mt. Everest. A systems analyst in his 30’s, Garduce summited Cho Oyu in September 2005. On Jan 1, 2005, he became the first Philippine to climb Aconcagua. Now he is joining an international team for Everest, and follows Hillary’s route from the Nepali side of the mountain.

National team climbers Leo Oracion and Erwin Emata summited Muztagh Ata in August 2005, thus breaking the previous Philippine altitude record set by Garduce on Aconcagua, which in turn was broken by Garduce again when he summited Cho Oyu last fall. Leo and Erwin have been training earlier this year in New Zealand's mountain ranges.

Apparently, the climbs have sparked a “network war” between ABS-CBN, which is supporting the Philippine team, and GMA-7, which is supporting Garduce.

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