T'boli
11:32 PM
Lake Holon
If you're looking for a place and needs a breather from the hustle and bustle of the metro, Mindanao may just give you the break you truly deserve.
In the province of South Cotabato lies what can be considered as one of Mindanao’s prized gems: Lake Holon, which mirrors the rich biodiversity of Mindanao. Now that it is open to the public one year after the local government closed it for rehabilitation, a handful of tourists now visit Lake Holon, a place considered to be sacred among the members of the Tboli.
Lake Holon is a lake at the crater of Mt. Parker located in T'boli, South Cotabato.
Mount Parker, locally known as Melibengoy, is a stratovolcano on Mindanao island in the Philippines. It is located in the province of South Cotabato, 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of General Santos City and 44 kilometres (27 mi) south of Koronadal City.
The volcano's English name is taken from an American General, General Frank Parker, who spotted the mountain and claimed to have "discovered" it during a flight he piloted in 1934. General Parker led an expedition up to the lake in the mountain's crater with other US colonial and Filipino government officials, including Vice-Governor-General Joseph Ralston Hayden and Provincial Governor Gutierrez, in the fall of 1934.
Melibengoy is considered one of the sacred places of the T'boli tribe. It hosts a rare species, Parantica dannatti reyesi, a butterfly related to the monarch, which was discovered by the late Professor Josue de los Reyes of Notre Dame of Marbel University and published in the entomological journal of Senckerburg Research Institute in December 1994.
Government officials have also confirmed sightings of the Philippine tarsier, Tarsius syrichta which can supposedly be found in the barangays surrounding Lake Holon.
