Filipinos ... on top of the World!!!

I have been following the summit attempt of Romi Garduche, (known as Garduch to his fellow climbers) excited as I am, GMA news team also followed the trails of this mountaineer from Bataan, having an extensive "GMA Everest Watch"… everyone is excited, including me of course… siempre first time meron Filipino mag attempt umakyat sa highest peack on earth…

And so there he was, acclimatizing in Nepal since March 2006… going back and forth from the Everest Base Camp, then to Camps 1, 2, 3 and 4… getting his body used to the thin air of a high altitude place… but something seems to be wrong, I thought Garduch is being slow… he should have attempted to summit when he had a chance long before… long before Leo Oracion of Lucban Quezon reached the summit…

YESS??!!! One Filipino has reached the summit today, May 17, 2006… the first Filipino to ever set foot in the highest mountain in the world is not Romi Garduche (like most of us is expecting), but in another person of Leo Oracion, a member of the Philippine Everest Expedition team, who was climbing with another Filipino, Pastor Emata whom from what I believe is already at Camp 4 by this moment. Another controversial independent climber – Dale Abenojar, whom was rumored to have reached the peak yesterday, but was actually seen by other climbers turning back to Base camp.

A Filipino was actually there, a fellow countryman waved our very own Philippine flag on the top of the world… something we should all celebrate to, but my heart still wants to rejoice if Garduch first made it to the top… although from the very start he's quite clear that his summit assault is not a contest and he prioritize his own agenda health and well-being, I still feel sad kase hinde sya and nauna, pinag pray pa namin sya nila Ross at Mother Marie…

Anyway, at the end of the day, we can still be proud because Filipinos are among the brave hearts who attempted and actually summited the most dangerous and highest peak of the world – Mt. Everest.

(Photos courtesy of http://www.mounteverest.net/ and http://www.gmanews.tv/everest)