Manila: Mount Banahaw in southern Luzon will remain closed to the  public for three more years to give the mountain time to recover from man-made damage, said Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje.

Mount Banahaw is a four -peaked volcano complex cited as a holy mountain by pilgrims, and also offers a spa. It is also a challenging climb for mountaineers.

It has been over-used, polluted, and damaged almost beyond repair by campers and pilgrims that its closure for eight years would not be enough to sustain signs of improvement it has shown for the past eight years, said Paje, adding the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) issued a resolution on the mountain's closure during a meeting on February 16.

PAMB's decision was based on the recommendations of the DENR's Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, which conducted a comprehensive and diagnostic assessment of the bio-physical and socio-cultural characteristics in Mount Banahaw from July 2007 to September 2009.

Environmentalists were happy with the government's "all-out-effort" to "heal" the damaged mountain complex and bring back its glory-days.

Atop Mount Banahaw, the highest peak, is a scenic 1.5 by 3.5 kilometes and 210 metre deep crater due to the volcano's eruption in 1730. Its other peaks, Mount San Cristobal, Buho Masalakot Domes and Mount Mayaboo, have a total of five hot springs that also served as healing sites for old people.

The 2,170 metre  tall and 10,901-hectare wide mountain complex, which straddles on Laguna and Quezon provinces, was declared a national park and a protected area in 1941.

Meanwhile, more than 200 mountaineers belonging to groups based in villages near the mountain were allowed to work with government personnel to prevent pilgrims and visitors from entering restricted areas.

Authorities have also reached the allowed number of pilgrims and visitors to enter specific areas of the mountain on week-ends. They are required to register and to undergo a briefing on how to protect the mountain while inside its sanctuary.

Visitors are prohibited from picking or mutilating plants, fruits and flowers; writing and engraving on trees and walls; altering or defacing facilities, boundary markers and park signs. To keep the mountain clean, they are ordered to bring home with them their garbage.

Although visitors are ordered to leave the mountain complex before night time, a curfew was imposed on park personnel, at 10 in the evening until four in the morning. Several 24-hour checkpoints were set up around the mountain.

In 2004, authorities issued a resolution that declared holy places used by pilgrims and various folk religious groups closed to the public mostly near Quezon province.

In 2006, five more areas on the Laguna side of Mount Banahaw were banned from the public.

In 2007, about 3.500 pilgrims were reported to have gone up to the worship area, campsite, hot springs and parking places in Mount Banahaw. This was fatal to the carrying capacity and biodiversity of the protected area, said Dr. Lope A. Calanog, during an investigation of the mountain's health from 2007 to 2009.

Calanog's team also found out that the holy site was "highly susceptible to landslide, erosion and flashflood".

In 2009, another resolution extended the moratorium for another three years (until 2012) in the areas identified since 2004.

The mountain-complex is famous for pilgrims during the Lenten Season, a period used by Filipinos to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion in Golgotha 2,000 years ago.

About 85 per cent of Christian Filipinos observe the week-long Lenten Season.