From Moutain to Sea: Kaya ng Pinoy

In May 2006 and May 2007, two teams of Filipinos – three men and three women, respectively – successfully conquered Mount Everest.The First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition was led by former Undersecretary of Transportation and Communication Art Valdez, and composed of climbers Leo Oracion, Pastour Emata and Romi Garduce, and Carina Dayondon, Janet Belarmino and Noelle Wenceslao. The three Filipinas completed the more ardous traverse through the north route in Tibet and the descent on the south face in Nepal.

These amazing feats started as a dream for Valdez who, as president of the Mountaineering Federation of the Philippines, announced in October 2003 that he was forming a team to climb Everest.

Valdez and his historial team are dreaming again. Plans are in to conquer the seas in a craft that ancestors used thousands of years ago."The Voyage of the Balangay 2009-2013” aims to replicate of the ancient vessel based on the balangay boat excavated in Butuan, Agusan del Sur in the 1970s; using the same boat building technique and method of construction as the balangay of the 4th, 13th and 14th century A.D. – plank built, lashed lug, edge pegged and shell-first construction.

On completion of the balangay, the team will embark on a four-year voyage around the Philippines, then around Southeast Asia, and to Micronesia and Madagascar in 2011. The boat will then sail across the Pacific to the Atlantic in 2012, all the way around the world and back home to the Philippines in 2013.

The crew will include five Everest mountaineers – Oracion, Emata, Dayondon, Wenceslao and Belarmino – plus medical doctors Ted Esguerra and Voltaire Velasco, and Fred Jamili. Other members of the crew still to be chosen will include master sailors, academics and scientists.

The boat will be built on a 1,000-square meter site provided by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which is cooperating with the project. The site is located at the Liwasang Ullalim beside the Folk Arts Theater in the CCP Complex on Roxas Blvd. The wood for the boat has already been sourced from Tawi-Tawi and will be shipped to the construction site. Construction is expected to take three months.

“In celebration of the Asian Century, it is time to honor the Filipino pioneering spirit, which we established during our ascent of Mount Everest. This next epic voyage is yet another chance to inspire our countrymen and fellow Indo-Malays to believe in ourselves and in our oneness again,” Art Valdez, the expedition leader, said.

He also launched the book 'Live the Dream' about the Everest expedition.