Mount Halcon
{{Short description|Mountain in Mindoro}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = {{nowrap|Mount Halcon}}
| photo = Mount Halcon.jpg
| photo_caption = View of Mt. Halcon from Barangay Dulangan II
| elevation_m = 2616
| elevation_ref =
| prominence_m = 2616
| prominence_ref =
| map = Luzon mainland#Philippines
| map_caption =
| map_size =
| label_position =
| listing = {{ubl|Island highest point 37th|Philippines highest peaks 23rd|Philippines Ultra peaks 3rd|Philippines Ribu peaks 3rd|Mimaropa highest point}}
| location =
| country = Philippines
| state = Mimaropa
| state_type = Region
| region = Oriental Mindoro
| region_type = Province
| settlement = Baco
| settlement_type = City/municipality
| range = Mindoro Mountain Range
| coordinates = {{coord|13|15|00|N|120|59|00|E|type:mountain_region:PH_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref=
| first_ascent = 1906 by American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill and company.
}}
Mount Halcon ({{langx|fil|Bundok Halcon}}) and ({{langx|es|Monte Halcón}}) is the highest mountain in Mindoro. According to the new data released by Oriental Mindoro peakvisor as of 2022, it has an elevation of {{convert|2616|m}} above sea level, higher than the previous estimates of {{cvt|2586|m}} although no official survey has yet confirmed this. It is the 23rd-highest peak in the Philippines and 37th-highest peak of an island on Earth.The highest mountains in the Philippines. Pinoy Mountaineer – Your Guide to Hiking in the country. 2008-02-02. [http://www.pinoymountaineer.com/2008/02/highest-mountains-in-philippines_02.html]. Retrieved 2011-09-15. Its steep slopes have earned it the reputation of being one of the most difficult and technically most challenging mountains to climb in the Philippines. The first documented ascent was made in 1906 by American botanist Elmer Drew Merrill and a party of forestry and military personnel.{{cite journal|last1=Hay|first1=Ida|title=E. D. Merrill, From Maine to Manila|journal=Arnoldia|date=1998|volume=58|issue=1|pages=11–19|url=http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/484.pdf}}
Inhabitants
Mount Halcon is home to the indigenous Alangan Mangyans.Alangan Mangyan. National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. {{cite web |url=http://www.ncip.gov.ph/AgencyProfile/OurClients/IPProfile/EthnolinguisticGroupsA/AlanganMangyan.aspx |title=Alangan Mangyan |accessdate=2011-09-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213084322/http://www.ncip.gov.ph/AgencyProfile/OurClients/IPProfile/EthnolinguisticGroupsA/AlanganMangyan.aspx |archivedate=2011-02-13 }}. Accessed on 2011-09-15.
Flora and fauna
Its thick vegetation contains much flora and fauna, including the critically endangered Mindoro bleeding-heart which is endemic to the area,Mount Halcon. Birdlife International. [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=9739]. Accessed on 2011-09-15. and the stick insect Conlephasma enigma, which was first described in 2012.{{Cite news
| title = 'Mystery' stick insect discovered
| last = Wakler | first = Matt
| work = BBC
| accessdate = 2012-09-04
| date = 2012-09-04
| url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19399735}}
History
The mountain was also the location of a possible World War II Japanese holdout. Isao Miyazawa found evidence that his comrade Captain Fumio Nakahara was living there in 1957.{{cite journal|last=宮沢|first=功|title=連載 サラリーマン男のロマン ミンドロ島戦友捜索奮戦記|journal=実業之日本|year=1957|volume=83|issue=6|pages=102–105|publisher=Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha}} Another search in 1977 was called off due to Miyazawa contracting malaria.Mainichi Shimbun, Mainichi News Compilation 1977, p. 900 In 1980, Miyazawa found Nakahara's hut, and the natives talked to him extensively about the foreigner.[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201980%20Apr%201980/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201980%20Apr%201980%20-%200296.pdf "Still fighting, 35 years after V-J day,"] Finger Lakes Times. April 10, 1980, p1 However, Nakahara himself has never been spotted.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
- "The Last Last Soldier?," TIME, January 13, 1975
- "Still fighting, 35 years after V-J day," Finger Lakes Times. April 10, 1980, p. 1.
External links
- [http://peaklist.org/WWlists/ultras/philippines.html "Philippine Mountains" Peaklist.org]
- [http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=11022 "Mount Halcon, Philippines" on Peakbagger]