Langun-Gobingob Cave, largest in PHL, needs sustained management like others
The Philippines has over 3,100 known caves. Among them is the Langun-Gobingob Cave in Samar. It features 12 chambers over its 7-kilometer span, making it the king of the country’s caves.
Discovered by Italian Guido Rossi in 1987, Langun-Gobingob Cave was opened to the public in 1990, a news release said.
Caves are underground chambers, usually in mountains, hills or cliffs. Generations of imaginative fear-mongers have made them the home of everything from treasure-hoarding dragons to a whip-wielding Balrog.
In reality, caves are special ecosystems which need protection, particularly from unscrupulous miners who would break apart tons of rock for a handful of precious stones.
Unique but threatened biodiversity
SAMAR Island, overshadowed by more popular places like Palawan and Boracay, isn’t usually considered a top tourist destination, owing to its long history as a hotbed for insurgencies and it is often visited by typhoons.
Although the Philippines’s third largest island exudes rugged beauty, its real value as an ecotourism destination lies beneath the earth.
“Samar is unique because it is a karst landscape made primarily of limestone. millions of years of weathering has created numerous caves and sinkholes on the island,” explained Anson Tagtag, head of the Caves, Wetlands and Other ecosystems Division of the Department of environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“Caves are special ecosystems which harbor highly evolved fauna, most of which have adapted to darkness,” Tagtag said.
Birds, bats, spiders, snakes, crickets and blind cave fish thrive inside the Langun-Gobingob Cave.
The lack of light confines plants to its entrances, but mushrooms and other types of fungi cling to life as discreet denizens of the dark.
“The speleothems or rocks in caves are in a very real sense ‘alive’—they just grow and move at timescales difficult for people to comprehend,” explained Dr. Allan Gil Fernando, a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences in University of the Philippines Diliman.
“The constant dripping of water, for instance, leaves minute traces of minerals like calcite. Over time these traces pile up to form hanging stalactites and their inverted kin, stalagmites. It takes about a century for a stalactite or stalagmite to grow one inch,” Fernando added.
It is because of their surreal beauty that many caves are sundered.
“People used to enter the Langun-Gobingob Cave to break apart and mine stalagmites plus white calcite rocks for collectors,” said Assistant Superintendent eires mate of the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP).
Cave guide Alvin Rafales confirmed this. “Locals used to mine the cave for Taiwanese businessmen, who paid a paltry P7 for a kilogram of rock. Balinsasayao, or swiftlet nests, were plucked out too, to be shipped to Chinese markets,” he said.
The cave was finally declared a protected area in 1997. “Thank God for legal protection. mining was effectively stopped,” mate said.
The Langun-Gobingob Cave is just one of many natural systems benefiting from the country’s protected area system.
“Declaring key biodiversity sites as protected areas is one of the best ways to ensure that future generations can continue enjoying their beauty,” Anabelle Plantilla, United Nations Development Programme Biodiversity Finance Initiative manager, was quoted in the news release.
“Visitors should positively support local communities but be mindful of the environmental impacts of their travels. They should, for instance, avoid taking wild plants or leaving trash in tourist sites,” Plantilla pointed out.
Year of the Protected areas
LAUNCHED in may 2022, Year of the Protected Areas (YOPA) hopes to generate funds from tourists to ensure the continued management of protected areas hard-hit by Covid-19 budget cuts.
The Langun-Gobingob Cave is part of SINP, one of YOPA’S six highlighted parks. The others are the Bongsanglay Natural Park in masbate, Apo Reef Natural Park in Occidental mindoro, Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Negros Oriental, mount hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao Oriental, and mount Timpoong hibok-hibok Natural monument in Camiguin.
The country’s caves are now open for tourism, but visitors should know what not to do inside them.
“Cave tourism should be well managed and there are cave do’s and don’ts,” said Buddy Acenas from the GAIA exploration Club, a manila-based caving and exploration group.
“A comprehensive assessment should be conducted before a cave is opened for tourism. Trained guides and set trails should be used to minimize human impacts. Like so many of our fragile wilderness areas, caves must be stewarded by those visiting them,” Arcenas said. For its part, the Philippine government is doing what it can to promote responsible tourism.
“Our caves, mountains, beaches and other protected areas are now open for tourism. We invite both Filipinos and foreigners to come and visit, but to do so in an environmentally-responsible manner,” said Director Natividad Bernardino of the Denr-biodiversity management Bureau.
“By practicing responsible and regenerative tourism in protected areas, we’re helping our national parks flourish and recover from the economic blow they suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic,” Bernardino added.