Manila: A mountaineering group in Tibet has certified businessman Dale Abenojar as the first Filipino to reach the summit of Mount Everest on May 15 two days ahead of three more publicised feats by his compatriots.
Robin Mendoza, a supporter of Abenojar who had gone to Kathmandu in Nepal to help the climber set the record straight, said on his return to Manila that a certificate had been issued by the Mountaineering Association of Tibet (TMA) as proof of Abenojar's feat.
Mendoza said Abenojar's feat at 10.45am on May 15 had been noted by Jeevan Shrestha, the secretary of Elisabeth Hawley.
Hawley is a respected American chronicler of Mt Everest's guides.
Clarifications
"Hawley has taken into account hundreds of expeditions in Nepal and Tibet each year for more or less four decades," Mendoza said in an interview published by the daily Philippine Star.
The certificate issued by the TMA to Abenojar showed that he reached an altitude of 8,848 metres Mt Everest's summit.
Abenojar and Mendoza made the clarification amid contentions made by another Filipino, Leo Oracion, that he was first to reach the summit last May 17 .
Rules
On July 2004, the Standing Committee of Tibet Autonomous Regional People's Congress enforced "The Rules on Administration of Foreigners' Mountaineering in Tibet."
Mendoza said the rules were the first of its kind drawn up by Tibet.
